Genie Bouchard gives the opposing Slovak Fed Cup team some bulletin-board material

QUEBEC CITY – It's a tradition, during the generally yawn-inducing, invariably unrevealing Fed Cup draw press conferences, to get the singles and doubles pairings together for a handshake and a photo.

They call it the "grip-and-grin". In boxing, it's typically the two combatants putting on their meanest fight face, putting glove to glove.

Who knows why they do it, or why they keep doing it. It's just something that's ... done.

First up on Friday, after the draw was made for the Canada vs. Slovak Republic tie that will send the winner to the prestigious eight-nation World Group I, were veteran Aleksandra Wozniak and Slovak No. 1 Jana Cepelova.

No problem.

Then came top Canadian Genie Bouchard and Slovak No. 2 Kristina Kucova.

Nothing doing. The handshake thing is lame, Bouchard said. She wouldn't do it.

The expression on Kucova's face was priceless, somewhere between amusement and disbelief. She had already held out her hand for said handshake, only to be rebuffed. It was awkward.

In honour of Bouchard's epic "kissy thing" quote down at the Australian Open, speaking about a post-match smooch with opponent Virginie Razzano, we officially dub this the "shaky thing."

Here's how it went down.

Actually, it is kind of lame. But it's also kind of disrespectful to all involved not to just suck it up and do it. It's not like giving away the secret game plan or anything. It made for a few rather awkward moments not only for Kucova, but also for the media in the room, and her team, and the Tennis Canada folks.

"Her choice," Kucova said. Later, prompted by something her captain said in Slovakian, she joked about using it as motivation.

Here's a photo gallery from the otherwise routine draw ceremony:

Bouchard was looking for a little support from her teammates after she answered a question about it. Who knows? Perhaps they even had a little intra-team wager about whether she would do it or not. But the support didn't really appear to be forthcoming. Wozniak just put a stone face on; no reaction.

Bouchard was on her own with this one.

She's 20, and she's on a big stage. There are going to be a few more missteps before she's done. And the rest of her handshake opportunities over the weekend – at the pennant-exchange ceremony, after her matches – were handled without incident, with a smile. So there's that.

It did, however, add a little piquant to the exercise. And it gave the Slovaks, who are without their three best-ranked players for the weekend, a little bulletin-board material to motivate them.