CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Bianca Andreescu knows where she was when she won the U.S. Open on Saturday. She was joining the top five in the world,
The queen of Canadian tennis is on top of the mountain after her first Grand Slam title. Bianca Andreescu’s next challenge is staying there.
Riding high from her U.S. Open final victory over Serena Williams, Andreescu’s off-court whirlwind continued with high-profile TV appearances on
Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Ryan.
She also rose 10 positions to a career-high No. 5 in the WTA Tour’s world rankings on Monday, the latest achievement in a stunning ascent from relative unknown to top-flight contender. The 19-year-old Andreescu has handled her exponential climb with aplomb, displaying a level of maturity and confidence beyond her years.
“She’s shown a remarkable ability to adapt quickly to her new world order and I suspect the same thing will happen here,” former national team coach Robert Bettauer said.
Andreescu’s title at Indian Wells, Calif., last March got people’s attention. Raising the Rogers Cup trophy last month proved that win was no fluke. Beating an all-time great like Williams for a major championship has sent Andreescu into another stratosphere. This was a sports moment that had a where-were-you-when quality in this country, like Mike Weir winning the Masters or Sidney Crosby’s golden goal.
Andreescu was plastered on newspaper front pages and was a top story on news and sportscasts throughout Canada. Final ratings released Monday by TSN were a monster, with a record average audience of 3.4 million viewers (combined with the French-language broadcast on RDS) reported by Numeris to go with a peak of 5.3 million when Andreescu closed out the match.
There were some nervy moments in her 6-3, 7-5 win at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She took the opening set in 42 minutes, but the packed house of 26,191 fans popped in the second set when Williams broke Andreescu’s serve to stay alive. The veteran American then sent the crowd into a frenzy by winning the next three games.
At five-foot-seven, Andreescu showed the mettle that has won over tennis observers. She halted Williams’s momentum with a key hold and then broke her serve for the victory.
“That’s just guts,” Bettauer said. “That is a very, very extraordinary aspect to Bianca’s game and why she will go to No. 1 and why she will win more than a few Grand Slams. It’s much more than just the tennis game she plays. It’s who she is and the resolve she has a competitor. That is just superb championship quality.”
Andreescu earned a whopping $3.85 million (U.S.) for the victory. She improved to 45-4 on the year and padded her 2019 prize money total to $6.06 million.
Quite a jump for a player who was ranked No.152 at the end of 2018 and often earning a few thousand dollars at each tournament.
The next big circle on the calendar is the Oct. 27-Nov. 3 WTA Tour Finals in Shenzhen, China.