Andreescu fearless against Serena, coach Bruneau says
Canadian met all challenges on way to U.S. Open title
Sylvain Bruneau said the key to Bianca Andreescu’s historic win over Serena Williams in the U. S. Open tennis final was to avoid being intimidated as she faced the player she idolized as a youngster.
“There are three or four areas where you can warm up and we used the same one for every match,” said Bruneau, who has been Andreescu’s personal coach since last spring. “Before the final, we learned that Serena used the same area. One member of the team said she was going to tell Bianca and ask her if she wanted to warm up in another area, but I said no. We were going to keep to our schedule and not let her think about intimidation.”
Bruneau said some of the intimidation factor disappeared a few weeks earlier when Andreescu, 19, met Williams in the Rogers Cup final in Toronto, a match that ended prematurely when Williams withdrew with back spasms after falling behind 3-1 in the first set.
“Even though it was only four games, Bianca got a feel for being on the court with Serena and experienced a large crowd in her hometown,” said Bruneau.
Bruneau, who first encountered Andreescu at Tennis Canada’s National Training Centre when she was 14, downplayed his role in Andreescu’s rapid rise. She started the year at No. 107 in the WTA rankings and is No. 5 after the win in New York.
“She has the ability, and my job was to help her make the most of the ability,” said Bruneau.
Andreescu has had a magical season, with titles at Indian Wells, Calif., and Toronto before the U. S. Open. She has a 46- 4 record on the year and has more than US$ 6 million in official earnings with the potential to add millions in endorsement deals. The Copper Branch vegetarian restaurant chain got a bargain when they signed her to a one-year deal worth $50,000.
Andreescu will take some time off before she plays her next tournament, in Beijing, at the end of the month and she’s in line to qualify for the Porsche WTA Finals, an eight- woman season- ending event in Shenzhen, China.
Bruneau said he hopes she’ll do some “19-year-old fun things.”
She’s already enjoyed some of the perks of celebrity, with TV appearances on Good Morning America, Live with Ryan and Kelly and Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show.
Andreescu suffered a setback the week after she won at Indian Wells. She aggravated a shoulder injury at the Miami Open. She played only one match — a first- round loss at the French Open — before playing at the Rogers Cup.
“She missed the clay- court and grass- court seasons and a lot of people thought the layoff would hurt her,” said Bruneau.
There’s another silver lining to the injury. It will be easier to maintain her ranking and even move up because she won’t have any points to defend in the heart of next year’s schedule.