Having rekindled her love for tennis, former world No.4 Bianca Andreescu battled past German wildcard Jule Niemeier 7-6(5) 6-3 in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix to victoriously open her 2022 season at the Hologic WTA Tour.
Playing her first clay-court event since Strasbourg 2021, Andreescu dropped serve early into the match against wildcard Niemeier and continued to lag behind her opponent, as the world No.108 even held a set point at 5-4. But when the less experienced player failed to use her opportunity, Andreescu managed to earn a break back to level at 5-5 and then converted her first set point in a closely-contested tiebreak.
The second set was a relative cruise for the 121st-ranked Andreescu, as she broke Niemeier twice, once early into the set and once in the final game. In the second round, the Canadian will play No.3 seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Talking to the WTA Insider before finally kicking off her 2022 season in Stuttgart, Andreescu said:
I’m being really honest here, but I actually wanted to quit the sport. It was really bad. […] But it was an accumulation of two-and-a-half years. A lot had happened and I just didn’t want to deal with anything anymore.
The 2019 US Open champion explained further:
I was very critical and it was very unhealthy. So I was like, ‘Yo, something needs to change because if I continue like this, my career is going to go down the drain.
Taking the court for the first time since Indian Wells last October, Andreescu has returned with a new passion for the game:
I’m very excited to play again. The last couple of months have been quite difficult but, as cliche as it sounds, I feel like I found myself. I really developed a stronger passion for this game and I realized that I truly love this sport.
