Breaking News: Bianca Andreescu’s hopes of competing at Wimbledon are dashed due to…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Bianca Andreescu is feeling fit as a fiddle, her body responding nicely to the rigours of punishing elite tennis after a 10-month injury layoff.
Well, there’s just that little twinge in her thigh that flared earlier last week during the Bad Homburg Open where the 23-year-old from Mississauga was eliminated in the first round. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to play Bad Homburg, it was a last-minute decision. I guess what happened was a blessing in disguise. I had a bit more time to rest and strengthen it a little bit.’’
It was a grass tournament, part of the sod season as players transition from clay courts heading toward the emerald lawns of Wimbledon.
“I feel really comfortable on it, more and more developing a love for it, I guess,’’ Andreescu said of a surface that used to be her least favourite. “I love that it’s short points, it’s very quick. You have to be very, very focused right from the start.’’
Her two most recent finals on the WTA circuit have actually been on grass, which requires deeper bends at the knee for a lower centre of gravity to handle lower bounces.
“I’ve been getting really low on grass. That’s kind of been the goal coming in, really strengthen the groin area and the quad area. But it’s tough to replicate in practice and what you do in the gym. If I can continue just getting matches in, I think I’ll get stronger and stronger.’’
It has been a wayward journey for Andreescu since her astonishing 2019 breakout season when, as a teenager, she defeated Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final, on the heels of triumphs at Indian Wells and the Rogers Cup in Toronto. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 4.
But the body — what appears to be such a sturdy and muscular physique — betrayed her progression. Since those heady days, Andreescu has contended with a foot injury, a knee injury, two torn ankle ligaments in a gruesome mid-match spill, a protracted sabbatical to deal with mental health issues and a stress fracture in her back, which fortunately didn’t require surgery. But it did keep her off the competitive courts until the French Open in May.
So the envisioned trajectory hasn’t come to pass, with Andreescu’s ranking tumbling to 165. To her credit and a naturally buoyant nature, she keeps grinding on.
“It was definitely a process to get that hunger back,’’ Andreescu said on a Zoom call Friday, as she prepares for her opening-round match Monday against Romania’s Jacqueline Christian at “The Championship, Wimbledon,’’ which that highbrow Grand Slam formally calls itself.
“Because, yeah, I’ve had many times where I was off for a long time and came back. But this time has been different and I guess if it wasn’t for all the other times, I wouldn’t be able to find that motivation or hunger again.
“When it’s stop and go, it’s very stagnant. It doesn’t help, to be honest, to (play) for a little, a few weeks, and then something happens and then it just becomes basically a drag. But now I feel super confident in my mind, my body, my team. Just finding little things that help me be in a good mindset. I know it’s a cliché but staying positive as much as I can. The more positive I look at things, even if it’s an injury of a break, the more I can get out of them.
“I guess that’s been my path but I definitely want to change that. And I feel like, yeah, I’m slowly getting there.’’
It was immensely uplifting to make it to the final at the Libema Open a fortnight ago, a tiebreak thriller that Andreescu lost. She defeated former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the process and her ranking rose more than 60 spots.
Andreescu was speaking on the heels of the announcement that she has made Canada’s Olympic team for the upcoming Games in Paris — along with Leylah Fernandez, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Milos Raonic and Gabriela Dabrowski. It will be an Olympic debut for Andreescu after missing Tokyo because of … injuries. But the manic schedule means cartwheeling from clay at Roland Garros, where she reached the third round, to grass and back to clay in Paris, for which she qualified with a protected ranking.
“It’s definitely not the easiest schedule. But in order to play the Olympics, that’s just what it is. I’ve never played the Olympics, so I really want to make it a priority and I’m truly grateful that I’ve been able to qualify.
“I’ve spoken to other players, not only from tennis but different sports. They all say there’s no other feeling like competing for your country at the Olympics. I really want to be able to experience that finally. The whole experience — the opening ceremony, interacting with different athletes.
“Olympics is Olympics!’’
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