Bianca Andreescu broke down in tears during her title-winning press conference, savouring the moment she defeated Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam trophy.
The Canadian – her countrys first Grand Slam singles champion – put in a fearless display amid daunting conditions in the Arthur Ashe Stadium and proved too strong for her far more experienced opponent.
It was a fitting way to end a remarkable breakthrough year for the 19-year-old. Outside the top-100 at the end of 2018, she will now climb to world No. 5 when the WTA rankings are next released.
Theres surely more to come from this prodigious talent, who has already claimed big titles in Indian Wells and at the Rogers Cup, with Greg Rusedski telling Amazon Prime he expects her to be world No. 1 and a multiple Slam winner by the end of next year.
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Skys the limit, no question about it, Rusedski said. The only question mark: will she stay healthy? If she does, I see her being No. 1 next year and winning maybe two Slams.
Considering she was losing in the first round of US Open qualifying little over a year ago – asked what she did on finals day in 2018, she replied: I was at home. I was injured. I was sitting on my butt. – it was simply unthinkable 12 months ago that she would go on to win the title in her first appearance in the main draw.
The reality seemed to hit the 19-year-old during her media duties after the match and she teared up as she reflected on her rise.
This wasnt the only time I visualised playing in the finals actually against Serena Williams. Its so crazy, man. Ive been — Sorry, she said, as she put her head in her hands unable to finish the sentence.
Ive been dreaming of this moment for the longest time. Like I said after I won the Orange Bowl, a couple months after, I really believed that I could be at this stage. Since then, honestly Ive been visualising it almost every single day.
