Jim Parsons from 'Big Bang Theory' has the most heartwarming story about Canada's Genie Bouchard

With Canadian tennis star Genie Bouchard set to retire after the National Bank Open, there’s bound to be all sorts of tributes to the 31-year-old in the coming days.

But perhaps none will be more eloquent than that of Jim Parsons, best known to the public for his leading role as Sheldon Cooper for 12 seasons on The Big Bang Theory.

While Cooper was portrayed as a socially awkward scientist with little interest in sports, the real-life Parsons is a big tennis fan. And as luck would have it, Bouchard was a big fan of the show, so the two launched a new friendship.

“This is a picture of me and Genie at Wimbledon in 2014 when she and her family so graciously invited Todd and I to watch a match, if we could get to London,” Parsons wrote on Instagram this week. “She invited me to come watch her play immediately, but I couldn’t due to work schedules, so we just kept some emails going back and forth and I watched her play on TV.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jim Parsons (@therealjimparsons)

“So I was always afraid of saying something in an email that might ‘throw her off her game’ (as if I had the power) I wondered things like ‘do athletes say good luck? Break a leg? Go out there and slay?’ It was ridiculous, but that’s the way I was,” Parsons admitted. “I felt that I had more access to an athlete than I was capable of handling.”

Thankfully for Parsons, the admiration was mutual.

“It’s amazing that he’s a fan of me ’cause I’m like the biggest fan of him,” Bouchard said in an interview with the Fashion Times. “He’s e-mailed me after every single match I’ve played. He’s more positive than all of my team combined. So it’s a refreshing change to get a nice e-mail with exclamation marks and smiley faces.”

Parsons and his partner, Todd Spiewak, made the trek from Los Angeles to London to watch Bouchard’s second-round match, which turned into six matches as Bouchard marched onwards to the only Grand Slam final of her career.

“I was both in heaven and also not certain this was reality: I have watched tennis on TV basically my whole life,” said Parsons. “I enjoy it like no other sport. Wimbledon, specifically, always seemed to me like a magical kingdom: the beauty of the grass, the all white attire of the players. If a sport has an element of ‘holy,’ Wimbledon is the place to find it. So it was a little out-of-body to be there, as much as I loved it,” he added. “Luckily I had a chance for a do-over as Genie and her family asked if Todd and I would like to watch her third round match, too. We said ‘hell yes’ and came back two days later.”

While they were initially planning on heading back shortly after the second round, Parsons and Spiewak stayed in London right through to the final.

“We were told, however, that we were part of this journey now – why mess with it and change the makeup of the players box? (I don’t believe this was superstition on the part of Genie’s team, I actually think they were just being really sweet to us. But, of course, we changed our flight, extended our hotel, and stayed.)”

The final lasted just 55 minutes, with Czech star Petra Kvitova beating Bouchard 6-3, 6-0.

“Seeing her after the match, however, I was taken with how much the accomplishments of the last two weeks, in total, kind of radiated off of her, at least in my view. She hadn’t even lost a set of tennis until that final and, having watched it up close and personal, I could feel that strength and focus, even after the tournament had ended,” Parsons wrote. “Genie, I will never forget the steely focus and icy resolve you had as a player, something I may not have understood had you not invited me into your world to witness up close. Any time we watch a player take a ball out of the air before it bounces, compressing time, pressuring their opponent, me and Todd BOTH scream at the tv, ‘THAT’S GENIE BOUCHARD TENNIS!'”

With Bouchard announcing that this week’s tournament in Montreal will be her last, she’ll either retire after her next loss, or an improbable run to the final as a wild card. Bouchard faces off against Belinda Bencic on Wednesday night in a round of 64 matchup.

“Thank you — and your whole family — for being so inclusive to us groupies for two weeks in Wimbledon; I knew at the time it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience I was having and that realization actually only grows MORE evident with every year and every major tennis tournament that passes,” Parsons concluded. “I will be rooting for you in all that you do next.”

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