It’s somehow been half-a-decade since Bianca Andreescu first stepped into our consciousness, an 18-year-old Ontarian who dabbled in meditation, wore a coiled hair tie on her biceps, and kept a mental Rolodex of keywords for mid-match problem-solving.
She played with variety. She hit the cover off the ball.
Andreescu’s big break would come in the California desert, where she scored consecutive Top-10 upsets of Elina Svitolina and Angelique Kerber to win the 2019 BNP Paribas Open. She added a second WTA 1000 title on home turf that summer in Toronto. By year’s end, she was the US Open champion, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Serena Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium, her first major singles title in hand.
“She does what she does best, and that’s move up to the ball, that’s hit winners, that’s play with a ton of intensity,” said Williams afterward.
But since 2021, it’s been a struggle for the former world No. 4 to stay on the court, her body repeatedly letting her down. Knee, back, shoulder and ankle injuries kept popping up every time it seemed she was on the verge of a bona fide comeback. But no matter how bad things got, Andreescu says she never really considered walking away from the sport she was first introduced to at age seven in her parents’ homeland, Romania.
"I want to use tennis as a platform to help inspire other people. It’s kind of like a bigger purpose of mine."
“I guess it sounds cliché, but something was pulling me towards continuing to play tennis,” she explained earlier this summer at Wimbledon. “I just made a decision. I'm like, ‘I’m going to continue with this.’ I don’t have many years, per se, so I’m, like, ‘Let’s focus on tennis now and figure out the rest after.’ It’s been working really well.
"I want to use tennis as a platform to help inspire other people. It’s kind of like a bigger purpose of mine. It’s not just to play tennis and win. That’s great, but the more influence you have, the more you can help.”
The one-time US Open champion, now ranked No. 167, is a wildcard entrant here in 2024. And, as fate would have it, she finds herself matched up against Jasmine Paolini on the Grand Slam stage for the third time this year. Andreescu, 24, pushed the Italian to three sets in a rain-interrupted, third-round loss at Roland Garros, falling 6-1, 3-6, 6-0; then suffered a 7-6(4), 6-1 defeat in the same round at Wimbledon.
It will be a tough task once again against the now-fifth-ranked Paolini, who recently joined countrywoman Sara Errani for a gold-medal run in doubles at the Paris Olympics. But Andreescu might be finding her form at just the right time. Earlier this month, she said she was playing the tennis of her life in a tight, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in Toronto.
“If I can play like that,” she said, “I think I can beat anybody.”
