THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 3, 2024

Bianca Andreescu

Press Conference

B. ANDREESCU/L. Noskova

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: How were you feeling out on the grass today?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I felt really, really good out there. In the first set I felt like I was dominating very well. I feel like the first three games were very important. I mean, it was only one break throughout the whole match. So it was very tight. The first set definitely didn't do justice, but I feel like I was playing throughout the whole match.

In the second set I got a little bit nervous towards the end, but I held it pretty well, so I'm very happy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You looked very, very happy at the end. Was that a win that meant a lot to you?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, it was a bit of a relief because I was getting frustrated for some reason throughout the second set. But I had to give her credit because she was serving really, really well. I'm, like, you know, it's grass tennis. Just let it be. Just try to hold your serve as much as possible.

And, yeah, that tiebreaker was very, very tight. Hitting a shot like that on match point is always great, so yeah, very happy.

Q. After all the physical issues you've had particularly over the last year or so, does each win sort of mean even more to you?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Definitely. Any chance I can step on the court is a win for me. But if I can get that extra win of actually winning the match and finishing it off, then yeah, it's a bonus.

My goal is to keep having that momentum. Obviously, I want to win every match I play, but I know that's not always possible. But yeah, I just want to keep it going.

Q. What are you feeling most confident in your game with right now?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I feel like my serve definitely has improved a lot. That's been some of the main focus, I guess. My return too. I feel like on grass that's very important to have I guess go your way in the matches. I think that's what I'm doing well.

On my fitness as well. I know the points are short, but you have to get low and you have to sustain long matches too. In s-Hertogenbosch I played a two-and-a-half-hour match. I feel like my fitness is really, really good.

Q. There have been seven different champions on the women's side in the last seven Wimbledons. What does that make you think?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Interesting. It's beautiful to see, honestly. That's women's tennis. And I think it's great to have different winners because it gives you, I guess, a variety. That's always nice to see for sure.

Q. What goes through your mind as a competitor who has won a major and is pursuing another one?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, I have that confidence. I know that I've done it. And having done that, I know that I can do it again. I guess I keep using this term, but 'divine timing'. I keep saying that. I know it's been fricking, what, five years. But I know I haven't had, let's say, the easiest career after that.

I'm taking it match-by-match. And knowing that stat, I guess that helps my confidence too because you never know what can happen.

Q. How would you compare how you feel after this second round victory to how you felt, what was it, about a month now after the second round in Paris?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I feel like every match I'm playing I'm improving, which is obviously the goal. Especially physically because, yeah, I had a really long preseason. Basically all I can say is that the work is really paying off.

I mean, I did feel great at the French Open, but I'm feeling even greater now. So I just want to keep that going.

Q. What about goals, expectations, things like that? I don't want to say Paris was a free hit, but it was like all of a sudden you were on there, you were on clay, which you don't have a great history with. Do you have different thoughts in your mind now that, hey, here we are again, final 32, I can do it.

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I feel like for sure with the Finals and s-Hertogenbosch and even the playing those three matches at the French Open, and doing well now, I guess the more I play and the more I win, I don't want to say the more I expect or, yeah, I don't want to say I have expectations.

I mean, we all have expectations, right, unconsciously or consciously, whatever. But the more I'm playing, the more I'm winning, the more confidence I'm getting.

So, yeah, feel like if I'm on, I can win any tournament I want basically. I just have to be on. I have to be focused and physically well, basically.

Q. You mentioned the ups and downs you had over the last five years. Has there been any stage then particularly when you suffered another injury like you suffered the back problem, that you have thought maybe tennis isn't for me?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, I've had thoughts about that. Especially in 2021 when I had my mental break. I didn't know if I was going to come back basically. I guess it sounds cliche, but something was pulling me towards continuing to play tennis and all of that.

I just made a decision. I'm, like, I'm going to continue with this. In a way I don't have many years, per se, so I'm, like, let's focus on tennis now and figure out the rest after.

It's been working really well. I want to use tennis as a platform to help inspire other people. It's kind of like a bigger purpose of mine. It's not just to play tennis and win. Obviously that's great, but the more influence you have, the more you can help kind of thing.

Yeah, even if it's on the court, off the court, on social media, the more I can help, the better. It makes me feel more fulfilled.

Q. How much are you a determining factor in your divine timing in terms of your view of it?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: That's a question for sure.

Well, I know what I'm capable of, let's say, with my game, with my mental toughness. So for me if I can live every moment the best way that I can, so improving as the second goes by, just living in that present moment and not thinking too much about the future, the past, I feel like if I can do that and trust in source and God and whoever is out there, if they can help me just push forward day by day, that's all I can do. Yeah, if I can prepare in the best way that I can, I know that it will come.

Obviously, yeah, it's me, but I'm hoping that God can help as well.

Q. How far along the grass court learning curve do you think you are in terms of intuitively being able to use your skill set on this surface compared to, say, 2021 or 2022?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I think it's great. I'm really, really loving the grass. I know there's always things that I can improve, that anyone can improve. But if I can continue serving well, returning well, the first three, four shots are the most important on grass, so if I can do that well and obviously use my variety too, I feel like that's been working well when I'm hitting it at the right time. Then, yeah, I can do really, really well.

Q. Emma Raducanu has talked recently about the struggles with dealing with outside pressure after she won the US Open. I wonder whether you can relate to that, the experience of winning a slam as a teenager and then, yeah, feeling external pressure rather than just the pressure that you put on yourself.

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, it's definitely a factor. I feel like it for sure got to me in 2021. And I'm glad I had that experience because now in a way I know how to deal with it. I know I haven't had a big win, but I feel like if I do, then I'll kind of have the tools in a way - hopefully. We'll see.

But then also not having, I guess, the best results over the last few years has given me another perspective as well. I mean, that's kind of how the tour is. So in a way, yeah, I got a sense of how the tour really is.

I mean, you're losing every week type of thing. Yeah, the last few years haven't been easy, but I feel like once I have the tools to navigate whether it's the pressure I put on myself, external pressure, it's always going to be there, Billie Jean King always says pressure is a privilege, which it really is, which it really is, so I'm trying to feed off of that. Yeah, we'll see what happens.

Q. What do you think is different or better about your game or even your approach to the game than when you burst out five years ago?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: I definitely feel like I have more things going on in my head. In 2019 it was very new to me. I didn't really think much going on court. I was just, like, I'm going to play my game, I'm going to go for my shots. Nobody really knows me. So I think that helped in a way. But now everybody knows me. Everybody kind of knows how I play.

So I have to deal with that.

But if I can do the best that I can with what everybody, I guess, knows me for, you know, with the variation and all of that, then I don't think it matters. If I play my game, then yeah, that's all that matters.

Obviously playing on different surfaces more and more helps me navigate that.

Q. Jelena Ostapenko, on the subject of pressure, said when she felt pressure, she remembered that she had a slam, and she said it was the girls who hadn't won a slam that should feel pressure. Is that something you can relate to?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, that's a great perspective. I have accomplished something that, yeah, everybody on tour wants to accomplish. So for sure that gives me confidence.

In a way, yeah, for the person that -- I mean, I don't know. I haven't really looked at it that way, to be honest. For me, having that slam in the back of my head when I do think about it, it's like, Okay, I have done it before, I can do it again type of thing.

But I like that way of thinking actually.