Canada Bianca Andreescu was 19 years old when she walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for the 2019 US Open final. On the other side of the net was Serena Williams, 37, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, playing in front of her home crowd. The situation called for deference, for nerves, for the kind of tentative tennis a teenager plays against a legend.
Andreescu won 6–3, 7–5. She barely looked fazed.
That match announced something. Not just a new player but a new kind of mental composure — the ability to stand in the biggest moment of her career and play her best tennis rather than her most careful tennis.
Before the Final
The 2019 US Open was not Andreescu's first statement. Earlier that year she had won the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells — only the third wildcard in tournament history to win the title — then the Rogers Cup in Montreal on home soil, defeating both Serena Williams and Belinda Bencic along the way. By the time she reached the US Open final, she had already beaten Williams twice that year.
She finished 2019 ranked No. 4 in the world. She had won three titles and a Grand Slam in a single calendar year, starting the year outside the top 150. The rise was vertical.
The Physical Game
At 170 cm (5'7"), Andreescu is not the tallest player on tour, but her game is built on intelligence rather than raw power. She is one of the few players who can genuinely do everything — serve with pace and placement, move well, construct points tactically, and hit drop shots and slice backhands that break opponents' rhythm. She has a quality that is difficult to quantify: the ability to play her best tennis when the pressure peaks rather than flatten out under it.
Her career win-loss stands at 130–56. Three WTA titles, including the 2019 US Open. Prize money over $7.5 million.
The Hard Years
After the 2019 US Open, things became complicated. A knee injury at the WTA Finals in October 2019 kept her out for thirteen months. She came back, won the 2021 Transylvania Open, then missed more time with a shoulder injury and a pandemic-disrupted schedule. The version of Andreescu who stormed through 2019 has appeared in fragments since — glimpses of that level rather than a sustained run.
She has spoken openly about the mental health challenges of recovering from injury while carrying the weight of a Grand Slam title and national expectations. Canada had not produced a Grand Slam singles champion before 2019. The first one carries a particular kind of pressure.
Why 2019 Still Matters
The 2019 US Open victory remains one of the most significant in recent women's tennis — not just for Canadian tennis, but as an example of what happens when a teenager refuses to be impressed by the occasion. Andreescu played that final like someone who had already decided how it would end.
She is 24 years old. Her ranking has fluctuated but she is still competing, still capable of the level that won a Grand Slam. The story is not over — it just went through a longer middle section than anyone expected.