It's been a little more than a year since Bianca Andreescu played a competitive tennis match — 370 days to be exact. But she may be close to a return.
In a long-ranging interview with TennisMajors.com's Alize Lim, Andreescu discussed what the next few months could hold.
"I'm perfectly healthy. I just wanted to take the time to build everything in my life and I think this time off really helped me do that," she said. "I wouldn't say I'm ready tomorrow to play a match, because I'm taking it step by step. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll be good. But I'm waiting for 2021, that's going to be the year."
Lim, a former WTA member, asked the Canadian star if she'll be in Melbourne in January for the Australian Open, to which she responded: "Yes, 100 percent."
The 2019 US Open champion said she's not concerned about the long layoff, noting she missed a considerable amount of time following Indian Wells due to a nagging shoulder injury.
"I don't think it's going to be a problem for me. I just want to do what I do best and try not to give a fudge about what anyone thinks," she said, adding she thinks she succeeded when she returned the last time because she was still "mentally" playing tennis, visualizing herself playing and studied her opponents.
The news on Tuesday comes almost two months after Andreescu shutdown her 2020 season.
“I have come to the difficult decision to skip the clay court swing this year and will be taking the remainder of the season off to focus on my health and training," she wrote back on Sept. 22 on Twitter. "As hard as it was to come to this conclusion, I have so much to look forward to in 2021, including the Olympics; I want to use this time to focus on my game so I can come back stronger and better than ever."
— Bianca (@Bandreescu_) September 22, 2020
A few weeks prior, her coach Sylvain Bruneau — who, she revealed in the interview is still in Canada while she is in Monaco — revealed to CTV News Montreal that they "were able to start [training] again in May and June when things were starting to open ... then she got injured again."
Despite not playing all year, Andreescu is currently ranked No. 7 in the world. The Mississauga, Ont., native has not played since suffering a knee injury in late October 2019 at the WTA Finals. She retired after the first set against Karolina Pliskova in Shenzhen, China, on Oct. 30 and told her coach, "My knee twisted, I heard a crack, (the trainer) validated me that it's my meniscus. I can't bend my knee at all. It's cracking every time I walk and it friggin' hurts."
Over the course of the season, she committed to, and then withdrew from, a number of tournaments including the 2020 U.S. Open.
"After many discussions with those closest to me, I have made the difficult decision not to return to New York this year," she wrote in a post on social media. "I have taken this step in order to focus on my match fitness and ensure that I return ready to play at my highest level. The US Open victory last year has been the high point of my career thus far and I will miss not being there.
"However, I realize that the unforeseen challenges, including the Covid [sic] pandemic, have compromised my ability to prepare and compete to the degree necessary to play at my highest level."
— Bianca (@Bandreescu_) August 13, 2020
With a few tour titles and a Grand Slam under her belt in spite of her lack of experience, Andreescu is ready to add to her resume.
"Now is when the work starts, to stay there and be consistent and throughout years and years," she said. "So, that's my goal right now and we'll see how it goes."