Andreescu taking break to recharge following Miami Open
Canadian teen Bianca Andreescu will soon be ready for a break after her breakout start to the season.
Andreescu, who has surged to No. 24 after starting the year at No. 152 in the world rankings, said Tuesday she plans to take some time to recharge after the Miami Open.
“I really do think I need a good two or three weeks off to get out of my tournament mode and focus on my body, my training and my mind,” Andreescu said.
This is uncharted territory for the 18-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., who looked exhausted at times last week at Indian Wells.
Andreescu fought through aches and pains, cramping and fatigue en route to her first Premier Mandatory singles title. She beat Angelique Kerber of Germany in a gruelling final that lasted two hours and 18 minutes.
“I’ve never been in a situation like that before,” Andreescu said. “I’ve never been in a final of a Premier event playing a very high level opponent. I think all of the emotions and all of the tension that was going through my body, that caused me to get even more tired than (usual).
“But I’m definitely seeking help for that. Tennis Canada has a great group of doctors, and I’ve been running some tests with them to see what the problem is.”
Another Premier Mandatory stop is on tap at Hard Rock Stadium, where Andreescu is scheduled to play her first-round match on Wednesday night against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.
The ATP Tour men’s event runs concurrently at the same venue through March 31.
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal will meet Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi in a final qualifying match on Wednesday morning. Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., have first-round byes.
Through mid-April, the WTA Tour calendar includes stops in Monterrey, Mexico; Charleston, S.C.; Bogota, Colombia; and Lugano, Switzerland. Andreescu plans to meet with coach Sylvain Bruneau and her team to discuss plans for the rest of the season and reassess her goals.
“We’ll need to be very, very smart with the way we adapt to everything,” Bruneau said.
Andreescu has criss-crossed the globe over the last three months.
She needed to win three qualifying matches to enter the ASB Classic main draw in January in Auckland, New Zealand. She beat two former world No. 1 players in Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams en route to the final.
Three more qualifying matches followed after she arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open. Andreescu fell in the second round at the season’s first Grand Slam.
She returned to North America to win the lower level WTA 125K Series event in Newport Beach, Calif. Andreescu then anchored Canada to a Fed Cup win over the Netherlands before making the semifinals in Acapulco, Mexico.
Her seven-match run at the BNP Paribas Open included wins over top-20 players Qiang Wang, Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina and finally Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam singles champ.
It’s possible Andreescu could sit out until Fed Cup play resumes April 20-21 in the Czech Republic.
“I’m feeling totally fine ... I proved to myself that, even if I’m really tired, my mind just took over,” she said. “I think I proved that on Sunday.”