When healthy, Bianca Andreescu was perhaps the most impactful player in the game in 2019.
Having missed the entire 2020 season due to injuries either side of the sport’s coronavirus shutdown, the Canadian star will return at AO 2021.
On court
In late October 2018, Andreescu was ranked No.243. Less than a year later, she was inside the top five.
This jaw-dropping rise occurred because, almost every time she appeared on court in 2019, she won.
The then 18-year-old won 31 of her first 34 matches that season, a run that included her first tour-level title as a wildcard at Indian Wells – the sport’s “fifth Grand Slam”.
A shoulder injury then forced her off tour for four months but she made a resounding return in August, winning in Toronto before stunning the tennis world with victory at the US Open.
Her compelling mix of power, aggression, touch and court sense proved devastating, including against Serena Williams in that Flushing Meadows final.
Naomi Osaka ended Andreescu’s 17-match winning streak in the China Open quarterfinals, and the Canadian’s subsequent WTA Finals debut was cut short by a knee injury.
She hasn’t played since.
Notable stat
Andreescu had never before faced a top-10 player until the 2019 season, during which she went 8-0 against top-10 opposition before Osaka ended that flawless run in Beijing.
Off court
The only child of Romanian parents who relocated to Canada, Andreescu credits her mother, Maria, for introducing to her the mediation and visualisation practices she has found so beneficial during her career.
An animal lover, Andreescu owns a poodle named Coco – a dog with its own Instagram account – and supports Canadian animal shelters, as well as partnering with vegan businesses P8NT and Copper Branch.
Having used her social media channels to support other progressive causes like the Black Lives Matter movement, Andreescu also wrote an open letter in 2020 thanking the WTA’s Original 9 for their trailblazing efforts in establishing women’s professional tennis.
X-factor
Few players possess Andreescu’s abundant natural swagger and confidence.
How else does one explain how a player can, with barely any tour-level experience prior to 2019, simply rock up and dominate the sport?
After beating Karolina Pliskova in the Toronto quarterfinals, she cupped her hand to her ear, encouraging the excited crowd to cheer even louder.
A few days later, Williams referred to her as an “old soul” after Andreescu trotted up to Serena and enveloped her in a hug after Williams withdrew from their Toronto final in distress; the pair shared a heart-warming and humorous moment courtside.
“She’s so different,” reporter Simon Briggs commented on The Tennis Podcast during the 2019 US Open.
“You look at the three Slam winners we’ve had this year – Osaka, then Barty, then Halep, so three introverts – and then you’ve got (Andreescu) and she’s like ‘check me out!’
“I love it.”
She said…
At the China Open in 2019: “I don't want to sound like cocky or anything, but I kind of forgot how it feels to lose.”
After winning the US Open: “This wasn't the only time I visualised playing in the finals actually against Serena Williams. For it to become a reality is just so crazy.”
Experts are saying…
“Watching her amazing run in Indian Wells … she showed that she almost has (Martina) Hingis's variety. She also has a lot of power that Hingis never had, so she can bang the ball when she wants to. Bianca Andreescu really does have it all.”
- Martina Navratilova