After the hard court tour is over, the clay season is slowly unfolding.
Currently, the ongoing WTA500 Stuttgart tournament, former US Open champion Andreescu, who has returned from injury, has ushered in a good start.
In the women's singles first round match on April 20, Beijing time, the Canadian overcame a 3-5 deficit in the first set and saved a set, and finally took 1 hour and 44 minutes to defeat the world's 108th-ranked local wild card player Niemeier with a score of 7-6 (5) 6-3 to successfully pass the first round.
It is worth mentioning that this is the second time that the Canadian has won the Tour after more than half a year. The last time she appeared on the Tour was back in 2021 at Indian Wells, when she was off-season after losing 6-7 3-6 to Cantawirt in the third round.
Due to not playing for a long time, Andreescu's ranking points have gradually decreased, and the current singles ranking has fallen to 121st in the world.
According to the statistics after the game, the Canadians' current state is clearly not at the peak. Throughout the game, she scored a total of 22 winning points, including 6 aces. In addition, she made 17 unforced mistakes.
After the game, Andreescu gave a self-assessment of his first victory since his comeback.
"Frankly, I wanted to quit the race at one point." Andreescu told reporters, "The first set was very difficult, but I didn't give up my efforts and was lucky to win the game in the end. Now I am very grateful to be able to play healthy, and the continuous injury of the past six months has made me understand the importance of health. ”
In fact, since the 2019 US Open women's singles final defeated Serena Williams and won the first Grand Slam of her career, Andreescu was once highly expected.
But since then, the Canadian has not been in particularly good shape, with injuries, COVID-19 infections and other problems that have led her to not even compete in the whole of 2020.
It wasn't until 2021 that Canadians began to make a comeback, performing poorly throughout the year, with only 17 wins and 12 losses, and falling outside the year-end ranking of 20.
And after missing all the games in the first quarter of the 2022 season, the Canadian finally announced his comeback at Stuttgart.
In the second round, Andreescu will meet the third seed Sabalenka, which will be a good workout opportunity for her.
"Once upon a time, I really enjoyed playing tennis. Whether the outcome of the game is to lose or win, I don't care. After half a year, I'm excited to be playing again, and that's the mindset I want to keep up this year. She said in an interview with reporters on the field.
After the mentality matures, can Andreescu return to the top step by step in the clay season? (Source: Tennis House Author: Wu Li Fun)