Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu was forced to leave the court in a wheelchair after suffering an injury during her match against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 16 of the Miami Open on Monday.
Andreescu officially retired with a 6-7, 2-0 record, winning 75 percent of his first-serve points. With tears in his eyes, he walked off the field. Alexandrova, who faces Petra Kvitova in the next round, came to comfort a devastated Andreescu as her team prepared to depart.
“I’ve never felt pain like this before,” Andreescu said in agony as the medical team approached him.
The 22-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario suffered the injury while chasing a shot during the third game of the second set.
Andreescu got off to a strong start in the round of 128 with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Emma Raducanu and a 5-7, 6-3, 6 win over No. 7 seed Maria Zachary. -4, she then defeated Sofia Kenin in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
It was a devastating injury for Andreescu, who was in top form with the summer schedule on the horizon. Andreescu had previously reached the round of 32 at the Indian Wells Masters before losing in straight sets to No. 1 Ika Svidek in a hard-fought match.
Andreescu has a long history of long-term injuries, having suffered a torn meniscus in October 2019, shortly after winning the US Open against children’s champion Serena Williams. Andreescu did not play much of the entire 2020 season due to complications from the Covid-19 pandemic, and then struggled throughout the entire 2021 season. Andreescu missed the first three months of the 2022 season and battled a back injury towards the end of the year.
Andreescu said in a recent interview that he was considering retiring from tennis in 2021.
“Honestly, it was about whether I wanted to continue playing tennis,” Andreescu told reporters on Sunday, according to The Telegraph. “I was really about to drop my rackets and say, ‘Fuck it.’
Those struggles in recent years have helped Andries grow as a player and as a person.
“I sure learned a lot,” Andreescu told Sportsnet’s Vivek Jacob earlier this month. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last few months, that’s a great thing in life, you keep growing, you keep learning. The main thing is if I win or lose a match that I want.” feel good in my own skin.