Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Canadian Eugenie Bouchard has suddenly added a minor WTA event in Rio starting a week from Monday to her pullout list after failing to participate in weekend Fed Cup play for Canada against Belarus. Speculation in local media suggest that the No. 58 may have fears over the mosquito-borne Zika virus currently found in the country.

Bouchard, the former Wimbledon finalist who won a round at the Australian Open before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska, had sent a tweet last week which seemed to indicate she was suffering with a cold of some kind.

“When you’re sick and you think about all the times you didn’t appreciate breathing through your nose,” tweeted the 21-year-old, who remains entered in a Malaysian WTA event later this month.

With their draw card now gone, the Rio Open tournament put its own positive spin on the disappointment, saying that Bouchard “has decided to train a bit more before returning to play.”

The Canadian would have taken the top seeding on the South American clay and would have been the only top 50 player in a weak field besides local Teliana Pereira (44th).

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.