For Bianca Andreescu, losing the Miami Open final hurts — but knowing when to walk away was a good step

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This article was published 03/04/2021 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Having watched Milos Raonic go through this for a decade, it’s got to be doubly frustrating for Canadian tennis fans to see injuries impede the career of another talented young player: Bianca Andreescu.

Now just imagine for a moment how the athletes themselves feel.

For Raonic, the moment he fell and injured his hip at Wimbledon in 2011 was the beginning of a stop-and-start career. When he was healthy, he could be brilliant — he’s still ranked in the top 20 — and remains the only Canadian male to ever make it to a Grand Slam singles final.

But there have been so many interruptions and pauses and restarts that somewhere along the line it became hard to assess precisely where Raonic, now 30, really is on the ATP Tour because he’s been hurt so much. Once ranked third in the world, he’s been surpassed in the ATP rankings by two other Canadians, Denis Shapovalov and Félix Auger-Aliassime.

Andreescu, just 20, has been dealing with serious injuries since she was 16. Three years ago, she had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair at a Fed Cup match against Ukraine. She just keeps getting hurt and, like Raonic, it’s always something different.

It happened again on Saturday in the final of the Miami Open, only Andreescu’s third tournament back since missing the entire 2020 season with knee problems. Down a set and a break against Ashleigh Barty, the No. 1 ranked player in the world, Andreescu ran to her right, rolled her right ankle and went down hard on the court.

She lay there for a few moments, then got back up and resumed playing. But she was clearly limping. “S—,” she said, grimacing and realizing her taped right ankle was getting more painful by the moment.

After losing that game to fall behind 3-0 in the second set, Andreescu took a medical timeout and then tried to play some more. But after losing the next game, she broke into tears and finally had to retire and give the match to Barty.

“It’s brutal. That’s never, ever the way you want to finish a tennis match,” said Barty. “I just feel for Bianca. She’s had a lot of injuries in a very young career.”

Andreescu had played extremely well over the previous two weeks, winning four matches that went the full three sets. She looked trimmer and seemed fitter. But always, in the back of everyone’s mind, there was the question of how long this would last.

Not very long, as it turned out.

At least Andreescu can console herself with the reality that the ankle injury didn’t cost her the match against Barty. She was getting thrashed by the Australian, a more experienced player who jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and was able to keep Andreescu off balance with a lot of low slices combined with a huge forehand and a big serve.

After losing the first set 6-3, Andreescu was broken again on her first service game of the second set. It wasn’t as if a comeback was completely out of the question, but there were very few signs that Andreescu was up to the task of knocking off Barty before she was injured. She hit only eight winners in the match and struggled to defend on her forehand side.

After composing herself, Andreescu tried her best to sound upbeat.

“It’s definitely not the way you want to end a tournament, but I’m super grateful nonetheless,” he said. “For me, getting back on my feet hasn’t been easy. I continue to believe in myself.”

She called the ankle injury a “freak accident,” and conceded afterwards that she retired more quickly than she might have in other years.

“No one wants to end a tournament retiring, especially in the finals,” Andreescu said. “But things happen, and I want to look ahead in my career. I’m only 20. I’m not trying to risk anything right now.”

It was an excellent tournament for Andreescu, who will jump to No. 6 in the rankings and cashed a cheque for $165,000 (U.S.). She had impressive wins over Garbine Muguruza and Maria Sakkari. Those were night matches, and she seemed a little out of sorts right away against Barty in an early-afternoon match in overcast, breezy conditions before a limited audience because of COVID-19.

Her plan was to head to Europe after Miami and begin the clay-court season leading into the French Open. Now, it will be interesting to see how long this newest injury keeps her out.

Raonic had to learn how to bow out of tournaments as soon as he sensed injuries as a way to reduce injury layoffs. Andreescu, it seems, will have to do the same, and retiring against Barty when she might have been able to finish the match was evidence of that.

“I’m glad I stopped,” Andreescu said.

Given her repeated absences from competition, it was amazing that Andreescu was trying to win her fourth notable North American title in the past two years. She won at Indian Wells in 2019, then followed that up by winning the Rogers Cup in Toronto a few months later and the U.S. Open right after that. Miami is considered on par with Indian Wells and the Rogers Cup.

For the most part her game was good in Miami, although her feistiness on court sometimes overshadowed some struggles at the net and an overall lack of consistency.

Raonic has always been able to come back from injuries and be competitive, largely because of his massive serve. Andreescu proved over the last two weeks she can do the same.

Still, she’d undoubtedly prefer not to have to demonstrate that ability. Over and over and over again.

Damien Cox is a former Star sports reporter who is a current freelance contributing columnist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @DamoSpin