Sawt Falasteen - 'Forgotten' Grand Slam champion Andreescu ignores pain in Paris

Too bad about her knees and ankle and shoulder.

Andreescu became Canada's first and so far only Grand Slam winner when she stunned Serena Williams in straight sets in the 2019 final in New York.

All three of her career titles were captured that year as she also rose to her highest ranking of number four.

"Looking back at 2019, I always thought I'm just going to improve and improve. Like, I'm just going to get better," said Andreescu.

"Then a lot of stuff happened and kind of went the opposite way.

"I mean, I always look back at 2019, but I also want to stay in the present moment. It's always nice to have that reminder of I'm a Grand Slam champion because sometimes I forget."

The "stuff" involved long, frustrating battles to overcome knee and shoulder injuries. She was even off tour for 15 months until early 2021.

In March this year, she suffered an horrendous looking ankle injury at the Miami Open when she was taking on Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round.

While attempting a return, Andreescu collapsed to the court, yelling in pain before being lifted into a wheelchair and taken off in tears.

"I've never felt this much pain," she screamed.

Twelve months earlier, she had retired from the final in Miami after suffering a right ankle injury against Ashleigh Barty.

Now ranked 42, Andreescu has reached the last 32 of the French Open for the first time despite arriving in Paris without a win on clay this year.

In the first round, she battled back to defeat two-time major winner and former world number one Victoria Azarenka from a set down before seeing off Emma Navarro of the United States.

"I started thinking about my grandmother because she's getting old, and I'm very close to her," said Andreescu of her fightback against Azarenka.

- 'I wish I knew' -

"She said, 'Bianca' -- in Romanian, she doesn't speak English. She's, like, 'Bianca, I really want to watch you win another major'. So I had that in the back of my head at one point when I was down 3-1.

"I was, okay, I started to get emotional too. At that point something, like, just came out of me, and I started playing better."

Before her win over Navarro, the Canadian had never passed the second round at any of the other Grand Slams in nine previous main-draw appearances.

Next up in Paris is a third round clash on Saturday against Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Tsurenko enjoys a 2-0 head-to-head record over Andreescu.

However, in a snapshot of Andreescu's injury-hit career, Tsurenko triumphed courtesy of two retirements, the most recent of which came at Hua Hin in Thailand earlier this year due to another shoulder problem.

Now Andreescu is determined to find the secret to staying healthy and injury-free as her 23rd birthday fast approaches.

"I wish I knew. I would tell the whole world," she said.

"Honestly, I'm trying to figure it out. There's good days; there's bad days. I mean, that's sport. You are never always going to play 100 percent unless you're Carlos Alcaraz right now and Iga (Swiatek).

"Jokes aside, I'm just trying to give my best every single day. I know if I stay patient, results will come."

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST