By Mike McIntyre
John McEnroe once joked with me that Canada would have a top-ten player if the sport was played on ice - a reference to our hockey prowess and lack of a legitimate threat in singles at the time. In the past five years however, tennis in Canada has taken a big rise in credibility with the likes of Milos Raonic and Genie Bouchard both making Grand Slam finals and at times being a presence in the top 5 in the World rankings. Denis Shapovalov announced himself as another talented Canadian player when he made the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal in the summer of 2017 and Felix Auger-Aliassime has also grabbed some headlines as the youngest player in the top 200 on the ATP Tour last year. We can now add Bianca Andreescu to the growing list of headline-catching Canucks after her coming out party this past week in Auckland.
The 18 year old Andreescu who hails from Mississauga and also developed part of her game at a young age in Romania, made it through three qualifying matches before delivering four big-time upsets to make it all the way to the finals at the ASB classic before being beaten by the No. 2 seed and defending champion Julia Goerges 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Sunday. Playing in her very first WTA final, Andreescu seemed anything but nervous as she was not at all challenged by the more experienced Goerges in the first set despite leading the Tour in aces in 2018 and being known for her usually powerful serve. For a moment it seemed like Andreescu's dream run would indeed end with a trophy being held above her head to complete the unlikely week of upsets.
Following the first set that saw Goerges struggle with a first serve of only 41% the German took a well-advised bathroom break and left the court. When she came back it was like a totally different player had taken her place - and how often do we see that happen? The veteran move paid-off and saw Goerges break Andreescu immediately and then hold serve for a 2-0 lead. Andreescu stayed focused despite signs that her troublesome back was flaring-up once again, and got back into the match for 4-4. Then while back on serve at 5-4, Andreescu admitted after the match that she started to look ahead prematurely. "It was really hard for me to stay in the moment and I was like - oh my God - I'm like one game away from winning the tournament."
After evening the match at one set apiece with a late break in the second frame, Goerges took control while Andreescu looked like she had little left in the tank and began to fade after a week that saw her play eight matches while dealing with the aforementioned back issue as well as a difficult cold as well. "My body is honestly a mess" the Canadian phenom revealed.
Despite the loss, it was a week that Andreescu will never forget nor will the legions of Canadians who stayed up late or woke up early to support her throughout her magical emergence on the WTA Tour. Her mother Maria revealed to me earlier this week that her daughter was initially shocked at her big wins over former World No. 1's like Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams but was now starting to feel that she belonged at this high level of play. Her ranking will shoot-up on Monday from No. 152 to a career-high of No. 107.
It should be noted that Andreescu's success cannot be deemed a total shock as she was a highly touted junior player once reaching No. 3 in the world and who had also won the Under 16 and Under 18 Orange Bowl tournament - a feat also accomplished by the likes of Chrissie Evert and Ivan Lendl to put the accomplishment into perspective. That being said, just because one is a successful junior does not necessarily equate to enjoying continued success when joining the professional ranks.
Andreecu has put in an incredible amount of time to develop her fitness and add variety to her game that at first glance seems to be built upon her impressive power. This week in Auckland tennis fans were treated to all aspects of her game that included some serious hustle and a wide array of tactical variety as well. Playing the always tricky Su-Wei Hsieh in the semifinals, Andreescu actually out-drop shot-ed her Taiwanese opponent and turned the tables on the No. 3 seed en route to a straight set 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Underneath all of the talent we have witnessed is the fact that Andreescu is also a very humble and well-spoken young woman who carried herself like an excellent ambassador for her country all week long. She made a point of looking directly into the camera to thank all of the support she was getting back home in Canada and was extremely thankful in particular to her lone supporter courtside all week, Virginie Tremblay, saying, "Thank you to my fitness trainer/coach/everything this week...she's been a tremendous help."
Indeed one of the more emotional moments of the week was as Andreescu was seeing the final slip away from her while trailing 1-4 in the third set and was talking with Tremblay on what would become the final changeover. Tremblay tried her best to inspire an Andreescu comeback by saying, "You need to want it more than her. You need to take that little fire in you on every shot." Answering almost in tears, Andreescu replied, "I really want to."
Canadian tennis fans really wanted her to as well but resoundingly applaud her inspiring effort to start the 2019 tennis season with a bang and reveal to the world that she is going to be a future force to be reckoned with on the WTA Tour. Forget what John McEnroe said about having a top ten player if the game was played on ice - Canada could have several legitimate top ten players in the years to come with Bianca Andreescu proving that she will be doing her best to become one of them.
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