Andreescu addresses the challenges that winning a Grand Slam early brought to her and Raducanu.
Bianca Andreescu says she perfectly understands what Emma Raducanu has been going through as the 23-year-old Canadian insists winning a Grand Slam at a very young age brings pressure and attention that is not easily manageable.
In 2019, Andreescu was 18 when she became a WTA 1000 champion in Indian Wells, and just after turning 19, she also won a WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto and became a Grand Slam champion at the US Open. Since then, five years have passed and Andreescu hasn’t won any titles and it has been a long time she was last time ranked inside the top-10 in the world. However, this Sunday, Andreescu will have a chance to end her title drought in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final.
In the last couple of years, Andreescu several times spoke about how big pressure and expectations got to her after her US Open and that was one of the reasons why she took a mental health break a couple of years ago and considered retiring from tennis.
Two years after Andreescu’s impressive US Open win, another happened at Flushing Meadows after an 18-year-old Raducanu became the first qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam title. But since then, Raducanu hasn’t won any titles and she has been one of the most criticized and scrutinized players, with some even calling her “a one-Slam wonder.” Also, some have been pointing out Raducanu’s rich sponsorship portfolio and claiming that the 21-year-old Briton is now more interested in some non-tennis things.
Andreescu on what she would have told Raducanu
Andreescu, who will turn 24 on Sunday, says if she could have given Raducanu some advice in those moments, she would have told her to “savor the moment” and not let attention “get too much to her” or use that same enormous attention for “self-gratification.”
“Definition I was watching. And then also having Leylah in the final, I thought that was incredible. But yeah, it’s just a tough position to be in at such a young age,” Andreescu said on The Tennis Podcast.
“Having so much attention on you but it does help you grow much faster and it helps you realize that you really have to savor those moments because you never know when it’ll happen again. I feel like what I could have maybe told her is, and I mean she knows her stuff, she’s a very mature person, she won the US Open.
“It’s more like savoring the moment and not taking advantage of it and obviously not letting the attention get to you too much and using it to your advantage, using it for good and not using it for self-gratification.”
Andreescu on the time she felt ‘so much hatred’ toward tennis
In 2021 December, Andreescu announced her withdrawal from the Australian Open after she decided to take an indefinite break from tennis to focus on her mental health and well-being. Five months later, Andreescu returned to tennis and kicked off her comeback on the clay courts of Stuttgart.
When Andreescu returned, she visibly had more energy but her injury woes kept following her, and after sustaining a back injury last August, the Canadian didn’t play again until this year’s French Open.
Now, Andreescu reveals that there was a period when she felt “so much hatred” toward the game.
“When I was injured, it was more when I had my mental time off where I really didn’t know if I wanted to come back. I just, I felt so much hatred towards it,” Andreescu confessed.
Since kicking off her comeback at the French Open, Andreescu had a third-round showing at Roland Garros and also made the ‘s-Hertogenbosch semifinal.
“It’s all how I look at it. Like it’s the perspective of the why me mentality that kind of brought me to that point, because tennis is so beautiful. It’s brought me so much it’s such a privilege to play the sport and be a professional athlete. I know it’s not all glamorous,” Andreescu said.
Meanwhile, Andreescu earned a huge win on Friday when she edged out four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-4 3-6 7-6 (3) in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch quarterfinal.
“I think the level was very high from both of us today. It could’ve been either of us winning. I told myself ‘whatever happens, happens. I just wanna give my best.’ That’s what I did. I’m very happy,” Andreescu said after her win over Osaka.
In the third set, Andreescu blew a 5-2 lead, but after Osaka went 3-2 in the third-set tie-break, the Canadian responded by winning the next five points and taking the win.
“I think I did well with my serve and return. The first few shots are very important. It was just my day I guess. Tomorrow she could’ve won. I guess it was just my day,” Andreescu explained.