Annabel Croft, former British tennis star, named the best female tennis player she has ever seen: Bianca Andreescu. Comparing the 19-year old US Open champion to Roger Federer, Croft is all praises about Andreescu, who has achieved nothing less than an incredible career this year.
Andreescu defeated six-time US Open champion and former world no.1, Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam this year. Not only that, she became the first Canadian to win this title and well as the first teenager to win a major after Maria Sharapova in 2006.
Interestingly, in 2018, Andreescu had failed to even qualify for the US Open and was ranked outside the 170s at the year-end.
To honour the massive feats Andreescu achieved, she was awarded the 2019 WTA Newcomer of the Year award. Andreescu also became the first tennis player to be awarded the Lou Marsh Award, which is given to the best Canadian athlete of the year.
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Writing for Tennishead, Croft spoke about women’s tennis in 2019 and was mesmerised by the young Canadian.
She said:
“With the way she moves around the court and sets up her shots, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the US Open champion feels like a female version of Roger Federer. When you consider what she has achieved during a year in which she climbed 174 places to finish at No 4 in the world rankings, a great future beckons for the 19-year-old.”
Andreescu’s climb to the top began with reaching the finals at the Auckland Open. She suffered defeat at the hands of Germany’s Julia Goerges in a tough match.
Then she won the Challenger event at Newport Beach and reached the semi-finals at Acapulco. Andreescu made news when she defeated former world no.1, Angelique Kerber, at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in an epic three-set match. Before her win at the US Open, Andreescu had already won against tennis legend Serena Williams at the Rogers Cup in her home country where she took the title.
Despite such a stellar year, Andreescu’s victories were followed by injuries. She suffered a shoulder injury in July which forced her to retire from the French Open after just one match and a major knee injury during the WTA Finals.
Andreescu plans to start the new season at the Auckland Open in January to hopefully win the title she just lost last year.
Speaking about her knee injury she said:
“I don’t need knee surgery so I wouldn’t say it’s a terrible injury. I can’t really say much about it, I’m just trying to rehab as much as possible and stay as positive as I can. It’s not easy because all I want to do is be on the tennis court but I have to deal with it the best way I can.”
Andreescu revealed that she will begin training on court very soon.
One of the most talented tennis players, “the female Roger Federer” will hopefully continue to have another incredible season and go down in history as one of the greatest tennis legends.
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