Sky is the limit for Canadian tennis champ

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2019 (2448 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is everything that can be great about sport. About life. About the Canada we know and love. It is a story about hope, hard work and determination, about chasing your dreams and overcoming your obstacles and never giving up. About bringing people together for a common cause. About unity.

It is, at its heart, a story about a family that came to this country hoping for a fresh start and new opportunities.

It is, quite frankly, a fairy tale playing out before our very eyes that goes far, far beyond simply being really, really good at smashing the heck out of a small ball filled with pressurized gas.

How else to explain the meteoric rise of Bianca Andreescu, the 19-year-old from Ontario who has gone from relative obscurity to not only the toast of the tennis world, but the national and international sporting community as well, in just a matter of months.

The first-generation Canadian, born to parents who immigrated from Romania in search of a better life, captured the U.S. Open on Saturday in New York, defeating arguably the greatest women’s player in history in 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams and winning nearly US$4 million in the process.

Andreescu’s victory instantly ranks with other historic Canadian athletic achievements including the Toronto Raptors capturing the NBA championship earlier this year, Mike Weir winning the Masters, Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal” at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Joe Carter’s “touch ‘em all, Joe” World Series-winning walk-off home run, and Paul Henderson bringing home the Summit Series.

And her celebration, with all the raw emotion and excitement you would expect, was iconic. She fell to her back on the court and looked up at the sky, the overhead view of her lying snow-angel style likely coming to cereal boxes and posters and T-shirts. Then she climbed into the crowd to be with her family, including Coco, her little brown poodle.

Oh, and she also played the role of the polite Canadian just perfectly when she actually apologized to the mostly pro-Williams crowd for beating their hero.

“I know you guys wanted Serena to win, so I’m sorry,” Andreescu said, instantly endearing herself to scores of new supporters around the globe.

She The North, indeed.

Reaction immediately poured in on social media from around the world, with some of the biggest names in sport congratulating Andreescu on her triumph.

“The future is now,” proclaimed Billie Jean King, the legend for whom the facility where Andreescu won is named after.

Andreescu’s rather improbable run to the title has won both her and the sport plenty of new fans along the way, especially north of the border where we love wrapping ourselves in patriotic pride whenever someone sporting the Maple Leaf succeeds on an international stage. A quick glance at your social media feed on Saturday afternoon would have made that quite apparent, the bandwagon filled to capacity with seemingly everyone hanging on her every serve and point.

(The always comical Down Goes Brown put it best on Twitter: Canada: “The unbeatable Warriors? The legendary Serena? Who you got next, America? WHO WANTS IT NEXT?” America: “How about winning the Stanley Cup?” Canada: “Let’s not get crazy.”)

We saw a similar coast-to-coast show of support earlier this year with the Raptors, and there’s no doubt winning the NBA title is going to have a major impact on the future growth of basketball in Canada. You have to wonder how many wide-eyed young girls and boys who watched Andreescu win it all are now thinking of picking up a racquet and writing their own story.

Hell, even my sorry, 44-year-old self was champing at the bit to hit the court, fuelled by what I had just witnessed.

Mark Arndt, the executive director of Tennis Manitoba, recently told colleague Taylor Allen the number of young participants has jumped locally and nationally in recent years, thanks largely to a boom of Canadian talent with the likes of Milos Raonic, Denis Shapovalov and Eugenie Bouchard.

You can now put Andreescu’s name at the very top of that list.

To get an appreciation of just how significant and unexpected this all is, a little perspective is needed.

Consider: It was just last summer that Andreescu quietly arrived in Winnipeg to compete in the National Bank Challenger, a second-tier tour event for professionals hoping to one day make it to the big stage that is the Women’s Tennis Association. To use hockey vernacular, think of it as grinding it out in the AHL, chasing the dream of making it to the NHL. Most, of course, never make it.

There was little fanfare or hype as the teen was quickly knocked out of the local event, which carried a total purse of just $25,000 and charged $5 admission for local spectators who likely had no clue a future superstar was in their midst.

Sure, Andreescu wasn’t exactly 100 per cent, having been hospitalized with a virus just days earlier. But an opening round loss at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club is certainly a long way — both figuratively and literally — from playing centre court at the hallowed grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club or Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Oh, what a difference a year can make.

Andreescu has managed to put all her raw skills together in one fantastic, polished product. She’s had a rocket strapped to her back this entire season, emerging as a seemingly unstoppable force which culminated in becoming the first-ever Canadian to win a Grand Slam event. She’s got a win-loss record of 45-4 this season and wakes up today as the No. 5 ranked women’s player on the planet, a far cry from when she started the year at 152nd.

Her story is the stuff of movies, including how her parents, Nicu and Maria, immigrated to Canada from Romania in 1994. They arrived with the clothes on their back and two suitcases. Nicu, an engineer, and Maria, an executive at an investment firm, carved out successful careers for themselves, while giving Bianca, born in June 2000 in Toronto, the chance to pursue her obvious tennis talents by enrolling her at the Ontario Racquet Club, then joining the national training program in Toronto at the tender age of 11.

Maria also taught her daughter about the value of meditation, which has been cited as a major reason she keeps her emotions in check and appears so calm, cool and collected under pressure, as was the case on Saturday when the incomparable Williams seemed to be on the verge of a comeback for the ages, only to have it halted in its tracks.

One story about Andreescu truly stands out.

By 15, she was a rising star on the junior scene, winning several tournaments along the way. Most notably, she used the lessons from her mother to visualize her future after capturing an event in 2015, the Orange Bowl, and then writing a fake cheque to herself that symbolized her ultimate goal of one day winning the U.S. Open.

Boy, did it ever pay off as she got to hold the real thing this weekend, containing a number much bigger than she could have ever imagined after beating one of the legends she looks up to in what may ultimately be a proverbial passing of the torch.

“I’ve really strived to be like her. Who knows, maybe I can be even better,” Andreescu told a horde of media.

Where Andreescu and her incredible story go next remains to be seen. But if we’ve learned anything so far, the sky truly is the limit for a champion we can all take pride in celebrating.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg