After eight months away, Bianca Andreescu is almost ready to make a comeback, but the US Open winner from 2019 acknowledges that she feels older than 23 due to years of injury struggles and mental health problems.
June will mark Andreescu’s 24th birthday. She had a whirlwind start to the 2019 season, winning WTA 1000 events in Toronto and Indian Wells before winning the US Open Grand Slam. Andreescu was predicted at the time to be a top player for many more years to come and to likely have much more success in the years to come.
However, after five years, Andreescu still hasn’t taken home a championship since 2019 and has a lengthy history of injuries that have caused her to miss a number of important games in recent years. Andreescu hasn’t played since August due to her most recent injury setback, which occurred during the summer when she sustained a back ailment.
Andreescu declared at the end of 2021 that she was taking a hiatus from tennis to take care of her mental health. Even though Andreescu was able to improve herself greatly at the time and resume playing tennis in April 2022, having to cope with ailments again wasn’t something she could have mentally accepted.
“With all the injuries, I don’t feel like my body is 23 years old; I’ve had a lot of bad luck.” The cosmos enjoys putting us to the test in many ways. Dealing with physical ailments on top of mental health difficulties, which kind of go hand in hand, has been the hardest test of my life, Andreescu stated on the Match Point Canada podcast.
“I don’t regret any of them; I have learned a lot about myself through the challenges I have had to face, more than through the wins and happy times.”
In early August, after battling a back ailment in Washington, Andreescu made the decision to try out for Montreal. However, things didn’t go as planned, as Andreescu was clearly having a lot of trouble losing 3-6, 2-6 to Camila Giorgi in the opening round.
Andreescu did not participate in the US Open after her elimination in Montreal, and she declared in December that she would not be prepared for the Australian Open. Andreescu, who was also unable to make it back to action in Indian Wells and Miami, also missed the start of the clay season. However, on May 19, she is scheduled to make her comeback at a WTA 250 tournament in Rabat.
Andreescu says she feels ready to compete again, both physically and emotionally, and she has had excellent training leading up to her return.
“I’m feeling really good and I’ll be ready to play Rabat, which is in about two weeks,” Andreescu stated.
“I’ve been training for almost the last three months, so that excites me a lot. Without a doubt, this is my longest preseason yet. I feel like I’ve said this about my lengthy preseasons every time I’ve been injured, but this one has surpassed them all. Three months is crazy, really.”
Andreescu opted out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to worries about COVID-19. However, Andreescu hopes to make her Olympic debut and represent Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which get underway on July 26th, now that she is well again and worry-free.
Andreescu has fallen to No. 225 in the world, far outside of the cutoff, after being out of the game for eight months. However, she can use a protected ranking, which should support her in her attempt to qualify for the Olympics.
“If you are unable to continue in the sport because of an injury or pregnancy, I may utilize my protective ranking. I can make use of my eight months of absence, I suppose. I’m hoping to be allowed to play because my protected ranking is in the low to mid-60s,” Andreescu said.
“I believe that competing in the tournaments before that could help me get into the main draw, and it’s possible that some people won’t attend. The 54-point cutoff is essentially determined by ranking. I believe I have a great possibility of succeeding, and I’ve had this as my aim since I was a young child. Even though I certainly want to win, it would mean the world to me to just be up on that stage and represent my nation, even if I don’t end up winning.”
Andreescu is anticipated to make her Grand Slam comeback at the French Open following Rabat.
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