Opinion | Grandmother inspires Bianca Andreescu at turning point of ...

Bianca is back with a blaze.

In her words: “My fighting spirit is back.”

Or at least a closer rendition of the teenage Bianca Andreescu who wowed the tennis world by knocking off Serena Williams in the 2019 U.S. Open final.

And maybe it was just for one inspired match, her opening round at the French Open on Tuesday. But when world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, in his first encounter, goes down in five-set flames to qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild, ranked 172nd — biggest casualty at Roland Garros so far — then why shouldn’t the 22-year-old from Mississauga be in with a chance?

In the last match of the evening on Court Simonne-Mathieu (rather unusual for a pair of Slam champions to meet in the opening round) Andreescu rallied from a poor first set to take out two-time major titlist, former world No. 1 and 18th-seeded Victoria Azarenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Fist pump from the Canadian when Azarenka returned with a netter at the 2:30 mark, on what was Andreescu’s fifth match-point opportunity. For Andreescu — recently, and remarkably rapidly, rehabbed from a ghastly ankle injury at the Miami Open in late March (two torn ligaments) that prematurely ended her spring hard-court season — the road to Paris was limited to two clay-court matches this month, Madrid and Rome, both opening-round losses.

So this is progress for an athlete who’s been plagued by injury over the past three years, with an extended tour break for her mental health included therein, especially against a quality opponent with a powerful baseline game, arsenal of diverse shots and defensive efficiency, moving with agility for a 33-year-old.

“I haven’t had many matches under my belt coming into this tournament,” Andreescu said in on-court interview afterward. “My goal was to just give my best, do 100 per cent and whatever happens happens. I did a little bit more than that and I’m really proud of myself.”

Whatever happened turned out to be a dramatically sharp surge in Andreescu’s game from the midpoint of the match, which appeared to be very much under Azarenka’s control through the first frame and into the second. They’d swapped holds through the first four games before Azarenka claimed the next four in convincing style. It looked easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

In the second set, Azarenka was poised for a double break to go up 4-1, but Andreescu kept her at bay for the 3-2 hold. From that point on, the court tilted in Andreescu’s favour as she broke the Belarusian twice to take the set and level the match.

“I felt like I started to become very passive and she was just hitting winner after winner,” Andreescu explained. “I told myself, if I want to even have a close game I really need to put pressure. I started taking the ball earlier. My serve, I felt like (it) started to become a weapon and I think that really helped.”

At her post-match press conference, Andreescu explained further with some touching details.

“I’m going to be honest, this match I started thinking about my grandmother because she’s getting old, and I’m very close to her. She said, ‘Bianca, I really want to watch you win another match.’

“So I had that in the back of my head at one point, when I was down 3-1. I started to get emotional too. At that point, something just came out of me and I started playing better.”

Andreescu went up with an early break in the third set and clung to it, particularly through a tough hold in the sixth game when Azarenka — who’d continually scolded herself out loud — tried to mount her own comeback bid. Instead, Andreescu snuffed out three break points in the match’s longest game to hold at 4-2.

But still Azarenka didn’t go away quietly. Serving for the match and in what felt like a blink of the eye, Azarenka played with grit to raise doubts, even as the crowd was audibly in her opponent’s corner — Andreescu’s parents and her beloved toy poodle Coco in the audience. Andreescu muffed four match points before finally converting on the fifth.

“I feel like there was more Vika supporters than supporters for me,” she said afterward. She was wrong about that. “But I did hear a lot of Biancas, too, especially towards the end. So I’m very grateful for you guys. Thank you for supporting.”

Her on-court interviewer tried to coax Andreescu into delivering a few words in French for the audience, as if all Canadians are bilingual. She gave it a go. “Je parlais un petit peu. Je comprend meilleure beaucoup. But I can’t speak it very well, as you can tell. But I’m trying!”

Andreescu hit 47 winners and committed 24 unforced errors; Azarenka had 33 winners and 27 unforced errors. The Belarusian also had the upper hand on breaks (4-for-7), just not when it counted most, while Andreescu was 4-for-16.

“Over the past few weeks, I had a lot of bad days and a lot of negative thoughts that crept in,” Andreescu admitted to reporters. “This match definitely gives me confidence in that sense. I want to go back to how hungry I was in 2019 more than ever.”

The Canadian had advanced to the second round at Stade Roland Garros just twice before, in 2019 and 2022. Andreescu next faces American Emma Navarro, ranked 75th in the world and making her French Open main draw debut.

You know who else is on Andreescu’s side of the draw? World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Cross that net should she get to it.