BIANCA ANDREESCU WINS US OPEN

Maj Gen P K Mallick, VSM (Retd)

Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu has upset Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5 in the US Open final to claim her first Grand Slam title. The 19-year-old Andreescu is the first woman to win the trophy at Flushing Meadows in her tournament debut in the Open era. When Serena won her first grand slam in US Open 20 years back Andreescu was not even born. She got a check of $3.85 million. Much more will follow in endorsements.

Was the result an upset? After all she was playing unarguably the GOAT of women’s tennis, holder of 23 grand slam trophies in front of a stadium full of screaming fans of Serena. Serena had been annihilating her opponents this year in US Open with her power play.I don’t think it was an upset.

One has to look at CV this year of teenager Bianca Andreescu. Just to remind everybody of her mental toughness, She has won 12 consecutive 3 set matches, her record in 44 – 4 win lose this season is the best. If you take out the injury withdrawal in two tournaments she has hardly been beaten this year. She had made her presence felt by storming to the Indian Wells title in March and after a knee injury forced her to pull out of the Miami and Rome tournaments earlier this year after just one match. She won the Rogers Cup in Toronto last month. In the finals she was leading Serena 3-1 when Serena withdrew due to injury. The way the teenager reacted there after Serena threw in the towels won praise from Serena who is not known for praising others.

She is a fierce and fiery competitor on the court. She has a very good serve, her bruising groundstrokes, creative shotmaking and speedy defence would give any opponent trouble. She can absorb pressure and mount a counter attack. She is fearless and do not bother who is on the other side of the court. That has proved especially true for the world’s best players, who she seems to reserve her best tennis for. The Ontario-born daughter of Romanian immigrants improved her record against top-10 players this year to 8-0. She has shown her steely resolve when 2-5 down in the second set of the semifinals she did not buckle down and won the second set at 7-5.

All these were on ample display in the finals against Serena. Serena was broken in the first game of first set. Thereafter Andreescu faced only one breakpoint and won the set easily at 3. In the first game of the finals Williams led 40-15, but Andreescu got her into to banging exchanges that led to two Williams errors. At deuce, Williams double-faulted, long twice. At break point, Williams double-faulted again. With Williams serving at 2-4, Andreescu submitted her to five break points, all of which Williams saved as she showed her own familiar reservoir of will to hold. Yet when Williams got to 3-4 and then got to her first break point in that next game, Andreescu placed a 103-mph ace into the corner. She held, then broke Williams, the set ended with Williams’s third of eight double faults.

She came out firing on all cylinders, moved the great Serena around the court and went 5- 1 up, had a match point. Then the great competitor woke up, mounted a spirited comeback to draw level at 5-5, urged by deafening roars from the twenty-four thousand tennis fans in the biggest tennis stadium in the world. On match point down on her own serve at 1-5 Serena whipped an all powerful forehand to the forehand corner of Andreescu and let her scream heard by the stadium. Suddenly her serves were as good old Serena, heavy ground strokes finding the target. One would have thought Andreescu would succumb to pressure.

Yet Andreescu, who covered her ears at times, regained her steely composure to cross the finish line with an emphatic forehand winner, her 19th of the match. Serena was gracious in defeat.

Why did Serena lose? There were signs of frailty in earlier rounds also. But nobody could withstand the famous Serena power and throw back a challenge till the finals. Serena was making far too many unforced errors. It was evident that she did not want to play long games and was trying to make the points shorter. A lot nowadays depend on that all time best serve, in the finals it was not firing. She got only 44% of her first serves in. Her ever reliable backhand failed. Her nine aces were offset by eight double faults, three of which came on break points. Andreescu was the sharper of the pair, committing almost half as many unforced errors as Williams and thumping down five aces of her own. Williams had 33 winners but just as many unforced errors. She dropped 30 of 43 points on her second serve.

Williams’ US Open title total remains at six, and her major victory total remains stuck at 23, one short of Margaret Court’s record 24. Williams desperately wanted to achieve this record at the US Open, where she is loved as nowhere else, It seemed to be all lined up for Williams. She demolished Maria Sharapova in the first round. After a slight wobble against 17-year-old American Caty McNally (a gritty customer) in the second round, she steamrolled everybody. In the previous two rounds – quarters and semis – she lost a total of five games. That is insane dominance.

There was Andreescu’s competitive makeup. Most players – even top players – lose to Williams before they even strike a ball, because they are so intimidated by her legend, her powe, her aura. Andreescu’s attitude was essentially: Serena’s amazing. Now let’s get it on. Sylvain Bruneau, Andreescu’s coach, told “She set the tone from the very beginning that she was not going to be pushed around, she’s not scared. She goes for it.”

Williams had as bad a day of serving as she has ever had. Through the first six rounds, she had won 51 of 54 service games. In the finals she lost more services games (six) than she won (five). She was broken three times on double faults, and had eight doubles in all.

Williams turns 38 later this month. There are ominous signs. Since giving birth to her daughter in 2017, Williams has not won a tournament. Four times now, twice at Wimbledon (2018, 2019) and at the US Open (2018, 2019) Williams has come agonizingly close to that 24th Grand Slam only to fall at the final hurdle. She did not just lose all four finals -- she failed to win a single set. She is a front runner. Stats say every time she loses the first set in finals she is likely to lose the championship.

She wasted another potential chance at this year’s Australian Open when she couldn’t close out her quarterfinal against Karolina Pliskova after taking a 5-1 lead in the third set. Williams rolled her ankle in the final set but later said it wasn’t the reason she lost. When did you see last Serena losing a match after being 5-1 up in the decider?

The way Simona Halep decimated her in Wimbledon finals at 2 and 2 was not a pretty sight. You do not wany to see that from a great champion like Serena. To her credit she is reaching finals. How many other champions are doing that?

Age and injury have become her biggest adversaries. Her progress was interrupted this year by a knee injury that led her to retire from a third-round match at Indian Wells and pull out of tournaments at Miami and Rome. It was halted again this month when back spasms caused her to retire during the Rogers Cup final at Toronto and miss a tournament at Cincinnati. Time spent in recovery gives her less time to sharpen her legendary match toughness.

Thr great Chris Evert said before the start of US Open “The one added component that she has now that I probably overlook is … age and injuries. Even though she looks unbelievable when she plays, to play like that for seven matches is a tough task to ask a 38-year-old, very much like a Roger Federer. It’s tough to ask of him”.

I think she has become obsessed with that 24th title. It will be better she forgets that landmark and plays her own natural game. Theren is nobody still in women’s circuit who can match her power. Better said than done. But that is what great champions are made of.

One word of caution. Naomi Osaka won back to back grand slams in lasy years US Open and this year’s Australian Open. She broke up with her coach. She is not at her best nowadays getting beaten easily in spite of having one of the most powerful game.

Another Canadian Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard was touted as the next big thing in women’s tennis. She reached the finals of 2014 Wimbledon Championships. Bouchard also reached the semifinals of the 2014 Australian Open and 2014 French Open. Where is she now? She is struggling to win a single match nowadays.

Andreescu has a mature head on her shoulders. Her parents are professionals in their own right. The parents were there all through the US Open tournament without showing much of emotion. RedT shirt and black sunglass wearing mom was stoic till the finals when she embraced her husband after her daughter won the championship.

She needs to be careful. The next big thing in women’s tennis has arrived.