MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Bianca Andreescu traces the trail that brought her back to the tennis tour after a mental health break — and, on Monday, put her back within the win column because of beating a seeded opponent at the Australian Open — to what she calls “an ‘Aha’ moment” on a beach in Costa Rica during a spiritual retreat nearly a 12 months ago.
Here, then, is how the 22-year-old Canadian described that epiphany in an interview with The Associated Press at Melbourne Park: “I’m meant to play the game and use it as a platform to be an inspiration for others.”
Andreescu, who beat Serena Williams in the 2019 U.S. Open final as a youngster, went through a series of health issues, including catching COVID-19, that derailed her profession in 2020 and slowed her in 2021, too. She also split from her long-time coach. All in all, there was lots happening — after beating No. 25 seed Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-4 at Court 3 on Monday, Andreescu used the word “hectic” to explain that period — and he or she went six months without playing a match from October 2021 to April 2022, including sitting out last 12 months’s Australian Open.
“That was after I began to ask myself the query: Is that this value it? Is that this life value it? Because I used to be very stressed with many things: People in my life; the best way I used to be myself within the mirror,” Andreescu said. “Just holding a tennis racket, I didn’t feel blissful anymore. Or content. Because normally, happening the court is my getaway place — and it stopped feeling like that.”
She realized she needed to re-evaluate where she was and where she was headed.
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“Do I keep pushing and pushing and hope for the very best? Or do I take a step back? In order that’s what I did. I took a break. And I did other things outside of tennis. I did plenty of charity work. I traveled to a couple of places. Frolicked with friends I hadn’t frolicked with in two or three years. I began playing soccer again. I did some skating. I began martial arts. I did dancing. A bunch of other things. And it really made me appreciate tennis much more,” Andreescu said with a large smile. “I truthfully didn’t know after I was going to select up a racket again.”
During her time in Costa Rica last February, Andreescu found a recent mind set.
“I felt significantly better in 2022 than I did in 2021, when after losses, I felt so discouraged,” she said. “Now I just need to get back on court. I feel very motivated.”
Sure seemed that way against Bouzkova, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist last 12 months.
Andreescu mixed up her shots and overpowered her foe when opting for large cuts on groundstrokes.
“Just didn’t give me much space to breathe and to type of get my momentum going,” Bouzkova said.
Andreescu said she felt a combination of nerves and relief at the tip Monday, because she really desired to win.
Which she did and now will face A centesimal-ranked Cristina Bucsa of Spain because the journey continues.
“I prefer to say what my mom at all times tells me: ‘Follow your heart.’ That’s what I did. I even have a robust intuition, I’d say, and I feel like plenty of other people do. So trust your gut,” Andreescu said, pointing her interlocking fingers toward her heart. “In case you don’t feel good in something for some time — I didn’t feel good for 2 or three months — I’d say to take a step back, for those who can.”
Teenage qualifier Shang Juncheng became the primary Chinese man to win a main-draw match on the Australian Open within the skilled era, beating Germany’s Oscar Otte 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5.
“I believe it’s huge for Chinese men’s tennis,” said the 17-year-old Shang, who hit 34 winners. “We have now had really good players from the ladies’s side, but not likely big names in the lads’s.”
Added Shang: “Hopefully we are able to do something big in the longer term.”
Shang, the 2021 U.S. Open junior runner-up, is the primary 17-year-old to win his first Grand slam match since current No. 1-ranked Carlos Alcaraz did it on the Australian Open two years ago.
“Quite an enormous accomplishment,” Shang said. “Looking as much as Carlos, he’s the very best player on this planet right away. Just watching him play on the court really inspires me, inspires the young, young players.”
China placed three men within the fundamental draw of a Grand Slam event for the primary time.
Wu Yibing lost his first-round match to France’s Corentin Moutet on Monday. Zhang Zhizhen plays American Ben Shelton on Tuesday.
The No. 3-seeded Pegula, whose parents own the Bills and the NHL’s Sabres, said she woke up at 7 a.m. Monday in Melbourne — which was 3 p.m. Sunday in Latest York — and watched a lot of the second half before happening to defeat Jacqueline Cristian 6-0, 6-1 at Margaret Court Arena.
“It was a tricky game. Not the prettiest of wins,” Pegula said in regards to the Bills. “Definitely an unpleasant win, I believe.”
“It’s like first game, playoffs, everyone seems to be type of nervous, plenty of tension,” she added, likening it to the jitters before an initial match at a Grand Slam tournament.
“It was fun obviously for them to get that win before I went on court,” Pegula said. “It wouldn’t have really affected me, I don’t think, but I’d have just been annoyed that they lost.”
Associated Press freelancer Simon Cambers contributed to this report.
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