US Open champion Bianca Andreescu on Wednesday returned to her hometown a conquering hero with a little more celebrating to do before getting back to work and setting new goals, such as staying injury-free.
Looking weary after a whirlwind media tour of New York, Andreescu said that she was running on adrenaline after her shock straight-sets win over 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in the final of the US Open on Saturday last week.
The celebrations are expected to become a regular thing for Andreescu, who pundits predict will soon climb to No. 1 in the world rankings and win many more Grand Slams.
Photo: Reuters
The future seems impossibly bright for the 19-year-old Canadian, but her meteoric rise has not come without challenges, particularly with injuries, which at one point threatened to derail her breakthrough season.
“If I’m healthy, then I think I can do even bigger things in this sport,” Andreescu told reporters. “One of an athlete’s biggest enemies, I think, is being injured.”
“I think the main goal right now is to stay as healthy as I can, because I’ve been injured quite a bit in my short career,” she added.
Andreescu has already spent a good chunk of her young career battling back, leg and shoulder issues that caused her to miss a big chunk of the clay-court campaign and all of the of the grass-court season, including Wimbledon.
However, on the North American hard courts, Andreescu looked invincible.
She last month beat Williams in the final of the Rogers Cup to become the first Canadian to win the national title in 50 years, then staged a remarkable run to the trophy in Flushing Meadows.
Having won her first Grand Slam and two of the WTA Tour’s elite events in Toronto and Indian Wells, as well as shooting to No. 5 in the world rankings, Andreescu has had to do a quick reset of her goals, having already far exceeded her targets for this year.
Now she is focused on qualifying for season-ending WTA Finals, climbing further up the rankings and representing Canada at next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“I have pretty big expectations for myself,” Andreescu said. “I kind of have an idea, I want to do well in my next couple of tournaments in Asia to hopefully qualify for the WTA Tour finals in China and crack the top three.”
“I’ve accomplished a lot this past year and I feel I can do even more, now I actually believe I can do more after all of this success, so I am going to keep striving and hopefully win many more Grand Slams,” she said.
“I have been thinking about playing the Olympics for a couple of years, I think it is a very special event,” she added.
Before all that, Andreescu will bask in the glow of her US Open triumph just a little bit longer.
She plans to celebrate a bit more with her hometown friends, but is also looking forward to sleeping in her own bed.
“I’ve been getting more recognized than usual,” said Andreescu, who was ranked an anonymous 178th in the world at the end of last season. “It’s been hectic.”
“I am definitely going to celebrate with some of my friends, but it is time to move on after all this media stuff,” she said. “Today, I will celebrate a little bit, but I am focused on what’s to come.”
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