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Bianca Andreescu once stood on the sport’s biggest stage, holding the US Open trophy high as confetti rained down inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was September 2019, and at just 19 years old, she had stunned Serena Williams to claim a Grand Slam title and announce herself as tennis’ next major force.

What came next, however, was not a rise but a dramatic fall that would stretch across years, injuries, and levels of professional tennis she never expected to revisit.

She would go more than 2,300 days without another title.

And when the breakthrough finally came, it carried a prize of just $3,000, less than 0.1% of the $3.9 million she earned at Flushing Meadows.

From Grand Slam Glory to a Sudden Collapse

Andreescu’s US Open triumph capped a dominant 2019 season that also included titles at Indian Wells and the Canadian Open in Toronto. She surged up the rankings, becoming one of tennis’ brightest young stars.

But almost immediately after reaching the top, everything began to unravel.

A knee injury forced her to stop at the start of 2020, and then the global Covid pandemic froze the tennis calendar. By the time she returned in February 2021, she had not competed in 16 months.

The shift was not only physical. It was emotional and psychological.

"I broke the curse"

"I don't think it's possible to really prepare yourself [for a Grand Slam victory], especially if you haven't gone through that before, but I wish I had a little bit more guidance after the US Open," Andreescu, now 25, tells BBC Sport.

"You think you know everything at 19, and I just remember I'm not one to ever ask for help, but I am a little bit better at that now. So maybe if I did, things would have been different."

Her coach, Dusan Vemic, said the transformation was unavoidable.

He explained, "She had to grow up fast from a carefree teenager to a young woman that she is now."

"You have a different outlook, different points of view on challenges or fun stuff."

"Being a tennis player, being an athlete, you suddenly have a different role. You become a role model for many youngsters."

Injuries, setbacks, and a steep ranking fall

What followed her Grand Slam breakthrough was a long list of physical setbacks. Abdominal issues and ankle problems repeatedly pulled her away from competition. In 2025, she underwent appendectomy surgery, delaying her season once again.

Her form never fully recovered. Since her US Open win, she has not gone beyond the fourth round at a Grand Slam.

Her ranking dropped sharply, sliding from world number four in 2019 to 228 earlier this year.

By 2026, Andreescu made a drastic decision. She left the WTA Tour environment she had known since her breakthrough and returned to the ITF circuit, where she had not competed since 2018.

Life in the lower tiers of professional tennis

The ITF Tour is structured from W15 to W100 events. Andreescu entered W35 and W75 tournaments, where prize money is a fraction of elite-level events.

A W35 tournament total purse sits at about £26,000.

The circuit is filled with rising juniors, players trying to break through, and athletes rebuilding careers.

Facilities are more basic. Crowds are smaller. Players often handle their own logistics.

But the competition remains intense.

Andreescu described the difference clearly.

"The hunger the women had that I was playing against, every match was so difficult, and I feel like maybe on the WTA Tour, the athletes are maybe a bit more comfortable with certain things," Andreescu says.

"Certain things are getting paid for [on the WTA Tour]. But on that [ITF] level, nothing's getting paid for, and you're barely breaking even. I was there too at one point, so I know how it is."

"I don't want people to get the idea that the ITF tour is Mickey Mouse compared to the WTA Tour, because that's not the case."

"I feel a lot of admiration and respect for the women that continue to grind on the tour, because it's not easy, even on the WTA Tour, it's just not easy."

Vemic reinforced that perspective.

"Every player there needs to prove themselves and everyone is hungry and they're not bored of playing many years on tour," he says.

"They're all driven by their dreams and passion because a lot of them are younger athletes."

"So sometimes it's a transitional part or stage of coming from juniors into professional waters and some of them carry a lot of confidence."

A return to winning and a physical reset

While top players focused on major tournaments like the Australian Open, Andreescu was competing in smaller Florida events, dealing with weather delays, venue changes, and shifting conditions.

In Bradenton, she captured a title after a 6-2 7-5 win over 325th-ranked Vivian Wolff, in a match disrupted by violent winds and moved indoors.

It marked a sharp contrast to her US Open triumph years earlier, when she held off a late surge from Serena Williams to become Canada’s first Grand Slam singles champion.

The move down the rankings, however, began to show results.

After Bradenton, she reached a W35 semifinal and later won a W75 event.

"I'm super grateful for that experience because I was able to really test the things that I've been working on in practice, in matches," she says.

"I've been able to test how my body handles the pressure and playing match after match, tournament after tournament, and I got my first singles win in six and a half years. I like to say 'hopefully, I broke the curse'."

She played 14 matches in 16 days, a workload designed to rebuild endurance.

"I don't think I played that many matches ever in a row. and my body held up perfectly fine," she said.

"That's a win. I'm just taking that consistency into the rest of the tour."

"I think it's been going really good. I'm feeling great."

Vemic says her game is evolving again.

He noted she is "even more aggressive than before" and attacking points more at the net.

He added, "She's a bit of an artist on the tennis court. You are always excited to watch her play," and said his goal is to help her "reinvent herself or come back to the level that she deserves to be at."

Back on the Grand Slam path

Andreescu, now ranked 137th, has returned to French Open qualifying and must win three matches to reach the main draw at Roland Garros.

But her reinvention is not only physical.

She has expanded her focus beyond tennis, embracing charity work, writing a children’s book, music, and spirituality.

"I've learned, if I'm just tennis, tennis, tennis, I perform worse, and I just go crazy. I need these outlets," she says.

"I like to explore the other side of what life has to offer, which is more the spirituality side, the esoteric side, and neuroscience as well."

"I'm reading a lot of books on that. They all just help me stay grounded, and they also help me get away from the chaos of what the tour offers."

She has also moved away from strict visualization techniques and now focuses on presence and balance.

"I would say I'm more into trying to find a balance and not... continuously visualising an outcome of something," she says.

"It's more like living in the moment... I actually have reminders in my phone. I'll have alarms every hour to remind me to just take a deep breath and centre myself."

Andreescu believes she is building toward something bigger again, even if she is no longer the same teenager who shocked the tennis world in 2019.

"The one thing that stands out for me was the confidence that I had and the fearlessness and the enjoyment that I had on the court - it was more of an innocence," she says.

"I'm a different person now and in a different time in my life, but it's still a part of me."

"It's not that I'm necessarily... trying to replicate [the past], because I don't think that's possible."

"But I've done it once - I know I can do it again."