Transcript: Andreescu def. Galfi, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 (First Round)

Andreescu defeats D. Galfi
1-6, 6-4, 6-1
Round of 64

An Interview with Bianca Andreescu

THE MODERATOR: All right. We’ll get started. Bianca, congratulations on your win today. Just your thoughts on the match.

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, I played Dalma earlier this year, and I actually played her on grass, too. So I’ve played her on every surface now, and every match was very difficult.

She has an interesting game style. She hits pretty flat on the backhand. She can roll her forehand and kind of like redirect very well, and then now she’s started to add like drop shots, slice. And obviously her serve is really good.
So, yeah, I’m just happy I was able to pull through. Yeah. First match, I guess, on WTA Tour on clay. So I’m feeling good.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. I know you’ve won matches at the ITF level. You’ve won a ton at the ITF level this year, but this is your first tour level main draw win this year. It’s your first since July. Does it hit different winning at the main tour level? How do you feel compared to like, I guess, other wins that you’ve had in this come back?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah. In the moment, I wouldn’t say it hits different. Maybe like when I start thinking about it, I’ll say, oh, yeah, like in a way it’s a bigger win, obviously, because there’s more a stake. But in the moment it just feels like another good win for me.

And it was a tough match. So those matches, like you feel more of a relief, and I guess just a feeling of, you know, I’m like proud of myself to kind of — because that first set was a little iffy, break points, you know, all that stuff. Yeah, pulled through.

Q. Rumor is that this victory was made possible by you mixing your coffee with electrolytes this morning. Is that true?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Where are you getting this information? No, it’s fine. Yeah, it was really pissed. So the day did not start off great. But, yeah. It was very interesting taste. I will definitely make sure not to make that mistake again.

Q. (Inaudible).

BIANCA ANDREESCU: No. I have a specific coffee recipe. It’s the Bulletproof Coffee. So I add like butter and MCT oil. And if you add electrolytes, yeah, it’s not the best combination. I did have my coffee, though, from here. The coffee here is nice. I need my coffee.

Q. I was going to ask you another question, but now I’m going to ask a coffee one.

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yes. Bring it on. I love my coffee.

Q. That’s me. Which coffee ritual are you? Do you brew it yourself? Do you grind your own beans? Like what’s your coffee setup?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I like to keep it efficient, so maybe grinding my own beans, maybe not. But I do — at my home in Monaco, I have like an espresso machine. So I prefer espresso. But when I’m on tour, it’s like drip coffee. It’s like the AeroPress. It’s so good. And I double it basically. So I’ll like put water, and then like I’ll do it again so it’s stronger.

And then, yeah, I have the Danger Coffee. It’s Dave Asprey’s coffee or Bulletproof Coffee. And, yeah, I add my butter, sometimes a little too much butter, but I like my butter very much. And MCT oil. And I like to keep that as like a ritual every day.

Q. I was just curious if there’s any books you’ve been reading or music you’ve been listening to or even podcasts you’ve been listening to that are motivating.

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah. I’ve really been into Sadhguru recently. I went to — he has these courses called “Inner Engineering.” I went to one end of December, and then I went to — I’m going to butcher this, but (Mashravili) (ph) or something like that. It happens every second week of February. And I was at home in Toronto then. So, yeah, it was a great experience. And, yeah, I’ve been learning a lot from him.

Q. Do you feel like it’s more medication? Is it self-help? Like what is the genre?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: He kind of blends everything in one, and he keeps it very practical, which is nice. So anybody listening can understand. Of course, he has his more mystical side. But it’s very practical stuff, and he gives a lot of like tools and rituals you can do as well like on a daily basis. Yeah.

Q. Just take us through the first set a little bit. Did it take you some time to get your footing on the clay and get comfortable out there?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah. I don’t know if players talk about this a lot, but the size of the court I find matters, so like get used to a little bit, and I haven’t had the chance to practice, other than my warmup today.
So I think, yeah, just getting my footing in. It happened also in Miami qualis, because I came from a 125, and obviously the court is smaller. So I think it was more that than anything.

And also I felt my shots weren’t as penetrating as the second and third. I ended up saying you have to commit just one shot at a time, because sometimes I’ll like hit and then recover. So it’s really like staying, finishing my shot and moving. It adds like an extra 20, 30 percent of power and RPM.
So I think that was a big difference.

Q. Obviously you played Dalma the last month in Austin. She came out on top of that one, but you got the better of her this time. I’m curious, what do you feel made the difference today and overall like in this latest comeback? Was there anything game wise you may have been missing in those earlier matches or even a year or two ago compared to now or was it more mental?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: No. I think it’s a little bit of everything. Mentally I feel like I’ve found that competitor in me every match. Consistently, right? That’s kind of the goal, to be consistent. So I think that’s set.
It’s more tactically, I think. Like, for instance, my previous match against her, I felt like I was having trouble on the return, and she was winning a lot of free points because of that. And I told myself, you know, just take a step back, because she has a very tricky serve, because you don’t know where she’s going to go.

So I said, okay, let’s take a step back so I can, you know, really have time to see and react, I guess. So I think that was a big thing. And then from the baseline, previously I felt like I was rushing the point a little bit too much and maybe also conditions, right? Like there’s just so many variables. But, yeah, today I told myself be patient and it worked most of the time.

Q. Bianca, as you just said, there are so many variables match to match, but kind of in this stage of your career, do you talk about matches like this where you clearly like figured something out, you made some successful adjustments, maybe differently than you talk about a loss where you’re like, okay, I need to throw that out, whatever a bad day? Do you almost hold on to these more and figure out what you can replicate from that at all or how does that work?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah. That’s an interesting question. Obviously try not to — I say this a lot, but I try not to look at things as necessarily good or bad. Just everything is an experience, and obviously I want to live in the present moment.

But latching on, even to the wins and the losses the same has kind of been — or not latching on too much, if that makes sense. So the opposite of, yeah, latching on.

And, of course, you want to have more moments and feelings of winning. So in a way I guess that goes into like a frequency, because I mean, look at Arena Sabalenka, right? She’s in that frequency of winning constantly, so sometimes I trick my brain in that way, and I do watch more of my matches that I win versus that I lose. But I do learn a little bit more from the matches that I lost.

And I’ve been pretty good at watching — at rewatching my matches. So, yeah, that’s, I guess, a new win for me because before I could not watch my matches. No. I hated it, yeah. Other than 2019, I mean, that’s an exception. It was on repeat quite often.

But, yeah, I try not to latch too much and like try to stay in the present moment. But I’ve been rewatching quite a lot, but more of the wins. Yes.

Q. Bianca, you seem very aware and in tune to energies around you. What is the sense of the energy that you maybe feel coming towards during this comeback, because I think there are people who are kind of willing you to kind of get back to where you were and if you read that as positive and what your sense of that gravitational or electrical energy maybe.

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah. Like my whole mindset is effort and intention in everything that I’m doing, whether it’s my routines, supplementation, food, all of that, and being on the court, of course.

Like I’m not trying to focus too much on winning or ranking or, you know, I guess, the outcome of things. And just staying healthy as much as possible, and that alone takes away from, I guess, the fear of winning or losing. So that brings more of a positive frequency, if that makes sense.

And, yeah, of course, like my team is obviously helping with that, and we’re making practice more fun. And, yeah, it’s all about the process, too, at the end of the day because I want to have like a long career, right?

Finally made that decision. And I feel like, you know, slowly but surely I’m finding the recipe to enjoy that, because it’s a long calendar. So, yeah. Good vibes all the way.

Q. You were thinking you were going to have a short career?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: No. I didn’t know what was going to happen, honestly, because of all of those injuries, and I was like, oh — I say this a lot, but like is the universe telling me something, like, okay, I’ll give myself two years or three years, and then I’m done but now I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and yeah, I see myself playing or a long time. So it’s nice.

End of Interview