MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Bianca Andreescu traced the trail that introduced her again to the tennis tour after a psychological well being break — and Monday put her again within the successful books because of a win over a seeded opponent on the Australian Open. What she calls an “aha second” on a seaside in Costa Rica throughout a non secular retreat almost a 12 months in the past.
Right here, then, is how the 22-year-old Canadian described his epiphany in an interview with The Related Press at Melbourne Park: “I am meant to play this sport and use it as a platform to be an inspiration to others.”
Andreescu, who beat Serena Williams within the 2019 US Open closing as a young person, has gone via a collection of well being points, together with contracting COVID-19, which blighted her profession in 2020 and slowed her life in 2021 as properly. She additionally broke up together with her longtime coach. In all, there was lots happening — after she beat No. 25 seed Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-4 on Court docket 3 on Monday, Andreescu used the phrase “frantic” to explain that interval — and she or he went six months with out taking part in a match from October 2021 to April 2022, together with not taking part in final 12 months’s Australian Open.
“That was after I began asking myself the query: Is that this all price it? Is that this life price it? As a result of I used to be so wired by so many issues: the folks in my life; the best way I used to be taking a look at myself within the mirror,” Andreescu mentioned. Simply holding a tennis racket, I did not really feel joyful anymore. or content material. As a result of normally, going to the stadium is my escape – and I’ve by no means had that feeling.”
She knew she wanted to reassess the place she was and the place she was going.
“Do I preserve pushing and urgent and hoping for the very best? Or do I take a step again? That is what I did. I took a break. And I did different issues outdoors of tennis. I’ve achieved quite a lot of charity. I’ve traveled just a few locations. Hanging out with pals I have never frolicked with in two years.” Or three. I began taking part in soccer once more. I did some snowboarding. I began martial arts. I danced. A bunch of different issues. It actually made me recognize tennis extra,” Andreescu mentioned with a smile. “I truthfully did not know after I’ll choose up a racket once more.”
Throughout her time in Costa Rica this previous February, Andreescu discovered a brand new mind-set.
“I felt lots higher in 2022 than I did in 2021, after I acquired actually annoyed after the losses,” she mentioned. “Now I simply need to get again on the court docket. I really feel so motivated.”
And it actually seemed that method in opposition to Bouzkova, who reached the quarter-finals of the US Open final 12 months.
Andreescu combined her pictures and outplayed her opponent when selecting massive cuts on her groundstrokes.
“It simply did not give me a lot room to breathe and preserve my momentum going,” Bouzkova mentioned.
Andreescu mentioned she felt a combination of stress and reduction on the finish of Monday, as a result of she actually wished to win.
Which she did and she is going to now face one hundredth seed Cristina Buxa from Spain because the journey continues.
“I wish to say what my mother all the time tells me: ‘Observe your coronary heart.’ That is what I did. I’ve a robust hunch, I say, and I really feel like lots of people do. Belief your intuition,” Andreescu mentioned, pointing her fingers intertwined towards her coronary heart. You be ok with one thing for some time — I have never been happy for 2 or three months — I would inform you to take a step again, if you happen to can.”
Large transfer for China guys
Teenage qualifier Shang Juncheng turned the primary Chinese language man to win a main-tie match on the Australian Open within the skilled period, defeating Germany’s Oscar Otte 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5.
“I believe it is large for Chinese language males’s tennis,” mentioned the 17-year-old Shang, who has 34 winners. “We had actually good gamers on the ladies’s facet, however we do not have actually massive names on the boys’s staff.”
“Hopefully we are able to do one thing massive sooner or later,” Zhang added.
Shang, the junior runner-up on the 2021 US Open, is the primary 17-year-old to win his first Grand Slam match since present prime seed Carlos Alcaraz did it on the Australian Open two years in the past.
“It is a very massive achievement,” Zhang mentioned. “Taking a look at Carlos, he is the very best participant on the planet proper now. Simply watching him play on the sector actually conjures up me, and it conjures up younger gamers.”
China positioned three males in the primary draw of a Grand Slam occasion for the primary time.
Wu Yiping misplaced his first-round match to France’s Corentin Moutet on Monday. Zhang Zhizhen performs American Brian Shelton on Tuesday.
View payments
Jessica Pegula ready for her first spherical win on the Australian Open by watching on TV because the Buffalo Payments defeated the Miami Dolphins 34-31 of their opening recreation of the NFL Playoffs.
The No. 3 seed Pegula, whose mother and father personal the Payments and Sabers within the NHL, mentioned she acquired up at 7 a.m. Monday in Melbourne — which was 3 p.m. Sunday in New York — and watched many of the second half earlier than she was defeated. Jacqueline Christian 6-0, 6-1 at Margaret Court docket Enviornment.
“It was a tricky recreation. Positively an unsightly win, I believe,” Pegula mentioned of the Payments.
She added, “It is like the primary match, the qualifiers, everyone’s sort of nervous, quite a lot of rigidity,” likening it to the turmoil earlier than the primary match at a Grand Slam match.
Pegula mentioned, “It might have been enjoyable for them to have that win earlier than I went on the court docket. It would not have actually affected me, I do not suppose so, however I’d have been upset that they misplaced.”
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Related Press freelance journalist Simon Cambers contributed to this report.
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Observe Howard Fendrich on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis And https://twitter.com/AP_Sports