By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Photo credit: Matthew Calvis
Bianca Andreescu won a clash of major champions, but lost a health battle in the process.
The 2019 US Open champion suffered turn ankle ligaments at the very end of her 6-3, 6-4 victory over 2024 Wimbledon winner Barbora Krejcikova in Montreal on Sunday. Despite injuring her ankle, Andreescu, operating on adrenaline, managed to play a couple more points to score her first WTA main-draw win since ‘s-Hertogenbosch on grass last month.
The injury forced Andreescu to withdraw from the National Bank Open before her scheduled showdown with Mirra Andreeva today.
Beset by a litany of injury in recent years, Andreescu said she has to laugh to keep from going crazy.
“All I could think about is, honestly, like why, again?” Andreescu told the media in Montreal. “I think I even
screamed out, “Why does this keep happening to me?” Yeah, just a bunch of emotions. I was super overwhelmed obviously playing in front of home crowd. Winning the match, right?
“It was match point for me, and it was just crazy. It was crazy. I started laughing at one point
because, honestly, at this point it’s laughable. For me it’s just crazy. It’s crazy. I’m trying to stay positive,
but it’s getting really tough. It’s getting really tough.”
Currently ranked No. 187, Andreescu said she hopes to recover in time to play Cincinnati, but isn’t sure her ankle will heal fast enough to permit her to play in the Queen City.
“Taking it day by day, but obviously the ligaments are a little bit torn, so that takes time,” Andreescu said. “So it’s kind of a day-to-day thing. I’m hoping to be ready for Cincinnati, but yeah, we don’t know. Can’t
say.”
The 25-year-old Canadian’s US Open hopes will be in doubt if she doesn’t recover in time for Cincinnati and has to play qualifying in Flushing Meadows. A year ago, Andreescu pushed Wimbledon finalist and seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini to 6-4 in the third set in a US Open first-round loss.
While Andreescu concedes her injury woes have caused her to contemplate an early retirement, she said she loves the sport and views injury issues as a test she’s determined to pass.
“On my bad days, which yesterday definitely was a very bad day for me, I definitely had different thoughts running through my head, but at the end of the day, I know that I truly love this sport,” Andreescu said. “It’s given me so much, and the emotions that I get from – just an example, last night was incredible being able to play in front of my home crowd and actually win and finish the match off, even though I was still hurt.
“If you are talking about retirement or whatever… I don’t know. Just because obviously I’ve thought about that too, but no, like, this for me, my goals are still set. Yes, I’m going to have bad days, but I know my goals, and I know what I want to accomplish in this sport.
“So yeah, all I have to do is do my best, and I know that we didn’t do anything wrong. Yeah, I guess, I don’t know, it just happened. The universe just keeps testing me, but I know it’s going to make me stronger.”
