“Cannot Really Control Things”: Bianca Andreescu Reveals Hardships During COVID-19 Quarantine After Victory at WTA Strasbourg

World No.7 Bianca Andreescu returned to action at WTA Strasbourg for the first time since injuring herself in the Miami Open 2021 final. She is currently preparing for French Open 2021 on the clay courts of WTA Strasbourg where she is the top seed. But Bianca revealed the hardships she has had to encounter in the current clay-court season including contracting the COVID-19 virus.

WTA Strasbourg is Bianca’s first clay tournament of the year. It is really important for her in terms of preparing for Roland Garros. But Bianca could have made an earlier return to action at Madrid Open, however, a positive coronavirus test in the Spanish capital forbade her from playing the Madrid Open as well as the Italian Open.

“It was super tough, I’m not going to lie. When I got the phone call, it was crazy because I got tested negative twice and then I took my flight on Friday and I got tested positive on Saturday, which was super weird. I really don’t know with this Covid thing.”

Bianca Andreescu on her symptoms and quarantine

Bianca revealed she had minor symptoms of the virus. As she had contracted the virus, she was quarantined in Madrid. The coronavirus restrictions did effect her tennis practice on clay.

“For sure it was disappointing. First couple of days were tough but thankfully I didn’t have any serious symptoms, just like a little cough.”

This start-stop nature of her career is frustrating. After her US Open 2019 triumph, she got injured and missed the whole of 2020. And now as she put forth a great run in Miami she again got injured and later contracted the coronavirus.

“Coming out of that, I took another 12 days off, which disrupted a lot of things, but it’s a pandemic, you cannot really control things. I was as careful as I could be, my team as well, but I was in Miami. Miami doesn’t really have that many restrictions and we did the best we could.”

One week of preparation is certainly not enough for French Open. Furthermore, Bianca’s return at Strasbourg meant that she played on clay for the first time in two years. Her return was solid though as she beat World no. 279 Lazaro Garcia, 6-1, 6-2 to advance into the 2nd round in Strasbourg. Let’s see if Bianca is able to go deep in Strasbourg and get valuable match practice before going to Paris.

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