By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 5, 2021
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu assured the media that she is fit and ready to play on Friday, during a press conference ahead of the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old Canadian, speaking to the media for the first time since pulling out of her lead-up event in Melbourne, says she did so as a precautionary measure. Being confined to a room for 14 days is no way to prepare for a tournament, the Ontario native said.
“Yeah, me pulling out of the tournament, it was mainly because I had two weeks of not training, and I didn't want to take the risk of having just a couple of days' preparation before the tournament. That was the main reason,” Andreescu said. “I'm healthy, though. I'm ready to go.”
Andreescu hasn’t played since the WTA Finals in Shenzhen in October of 2019, so her absence this week seems to be more of a case of her wanting to have that first match on her own terms rather than another dreaded injury scare.
Here’s how Andreescu explained it:
“I made some mistakes in the past with that,” she said. “I learnt from it. That was kind of the main objective because I told myself that I'd have at least before a big tournament a good week where I can play sets before actually going into a tournament. Having those two weeks off, that doesn't help at all. Yeah, I can do gym fitness, shadow tennis, but that's not the same as being on the court. I didn't want to make the same mistake.
“I was just grateful enough to have a week training before the Australian Open. I've been playing matches. I've been playing sets. I've been feeling good. The mentality was, from the start, that I probably wouldn't play, but I wanted to see how I'd feel on the court. We just thought that it didn't make sense.”
The Canadian, seeded No.8 in Melbourne, has been placed in the lower half of the women’s singles draw at the Australian Open, and it’s a challenging place to be—to say the least.
She will open with Mihaela Buzarnescu in round one, and could face either Hsieh Su-Wei or Tsvetana Pironkova next.
Also in this half of the draw are Naomi Osaka, her potential quarterfinal opponent, as well as Petra Kvitova, Garbiñe Muguruza, Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek and Simona Halep.
Andreescu seems resigned to the fact that she’s going to face a pretty intense physical challenge next week when she plays her first match.
“I know I'm going to be sore as hell after my first match,” she said. “That's for sure. I'm not looking forward to it. When I played my first practice set, not match, I was so sore the next day. But with all the emotions, all the adrenaline, it's going to be a bit more emphasized, I feel like. I think that's the main part. Obviously just, like I said, not playing for a long time, I don't know how I'm going to feel. I'll probably be really, really nervous, more nervous than usual.”
The good news is she isn’t feeling too much pressure. The joy of competing again will help cancel the nerves, she says.
“I don't feel like I have too much pressure on my shoulders. Yes, I'm seeded, but I haven't played in so long. I just want to go out there and play where I have the mindset I'm so goddamn grateful to be on the court.”