By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday October 30, 2019
It ended—or at least we think it ended—with a knee issue, but don’t let the injury that Bianca Andreescu suffered and related retirement on Wednesday at the WTA Finals overshadow the magical achievements of the teenager in 2019.
This season Andreescu became the first player EVER to win the US Open on her debut, she won her first EIGHT matches against Top 10 competition, became the youngest player in TWO DECADES to win Indian Wells and reeled off THIRTEEN consecutive victories in matches decided in three sets at one point.
In short: Andreescu’s breakout 2019 was one of the most captivating and compelling breakout seasons in WTA history and the 19-year-old has left an indelible impression on women’s tennis that will leave us all contemplating what is possible for the WTA’s generation next long into the winter months.
If there was any negative in the teenage phenom’s rise it was the fact that Andreescu couldn’t break free of a recurring theme from her early teens and had a heck of a time staying healthy. After she shocked the world in the first quarter of the season, winning 32 of 37 matches (across all levels) in three scintillating months to raise her ranking from 152 to 24, Andreescu suffered a shoulder injury that would derail her for basically five months.
The Canadian did make an appearance at Roland Garros where she won a three-setter over Marie Bouzkova, but she would end up withdrawing and skipping the full grass season.
Andreescu didn’t return until the Rogers Cup in August—nobody could have predicted what would happen next.
Andreescu became the first Canadian to win the Rogers Cup since 1969 and then won the US Open a few weeks later to become the first Canadian to ever win a Grand Slam singles title.
Her winning streak would stretch to 16 in Beijing before she was knocked off by Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals.
Though her season will likely end on a sour note (Andreescu will undergo a scan on Wednesday and could potentially still play her last round robin match in Shenzhen) what has transpired over the last ten months is one of the more remarkable stories that women’s tennis has seen in a long time.
This is not hyperbole, it’s in the stats.
At 19 years old Andreescu clearly still needs to develop a physical tolerance to rigors of the tour. She also needs to be more careful about her scheduling and avoid putting herself in situations where her body is vulnerable. But when we strip away the injury issues and look at the pure abilities of the player, one sees one of the most electric talents in the sport and a woman that has the potential to repeat her success and even elevate it in the years to come.
Tennis purists have gone gaga over Andreescu for a reason. In 2019 we may have not seen her break free of her health difficulties, but we did see her hit her stride as a shot maker and a tactician. The results were mind-boggling. Andreescu quickly moved to the head of the class when it comes to combining power, poise, variety and a deft touch into one, subversive, basically unbeatable package. She’s explosive, she’s nuanced, and she keeps her opponents guessing with her ability to mix and match her assets to match the moment in matches.
The jury is still out on Andreescu’s ability to stay healthy over the long term and this will be the major impediment to the maximization of her incredible talents in the years to come. But before we judge her too harshly on these setbacks we must consider all that she came through in 2019. There were the historical back issues that kept her from reaching her potential prior to 2019 and the shoulder injury that nearly derailed her season after she burst onto the scene this winter and spring.
Andreescu put those all behind her and rode a giant wave of momentum in North America as she improbably surged to the top of the tennis world in the pressure cooker that is New York City.
Her hot hand never cooled down and it says so much when a 19-year-old possesses that kind of belief and fortitude. Andreescu backed herself the whole way and, like her incredibly nuanced and interpretive game, this defiance and confidence is something that can’t be taught.
You either have it or you don’t and Andreescu showed everyone this season that she has it in spades.
And that is why today’s setback is likely to go down in a mere blip in an otherwise upward trend. Injuries are part of the game and Andreescu is still learning to manage her body on the tour.
Andreescu has already demonstrated that she can come back from injuries without suffering a crisis in confidence. She did that this summer and she’ll have to do it again in 2020, with a giant target on her back as a card-carrying member of the Top 5.
No matter what happens next, now is a good time to take stock of the rapid rise of Canada’s Andreescu. In 2019, she came, she saw and she conquered, and it was beautiful to behold.