Bianca Andreescu: How former US Open champion and world number four went to the bottom of the tour to rise back up

Andreescu was plagued with accidents – points along with her stomach and ankle saved her away from the courtroom, and her 2025 season was delayed by appendectomy surgical procedure.

Her kind suffered and she has failed to transcend the fourth spherical at a Grand Slam since her US Open triumph, along with her rating tumbling from a excessive of world number four in 2019 to 228 earlier this yr.

At the begin of 2026 she determined to return to an setting the place she hadn’t performed since 2018, swapping life on the WTA Tour for that on the ITF.

The match rankings work from W15 – the lowest degree – up to W100. Andreescu was competing in W35 and W75 editions, with the complete prize pot for a W35 match about £26,000.

The make-up of the ITF tour tends to be children who’re attempting to make their mark on the sport, girls who have been unable to break on to the WTA Tour or gamers who’re utilizing it to regain earlier kind.

The crowds may be tiny and line judges uncommon, however competitors on the courtroom is fierce.

“The hunger the women had that I was playing against, every match was so difficult, and I feel like maybe on the WTA Tour, the athletes are maybe a bit more comfortable with certain things,” Andreescu says.

“Certain things are getting paid for [on the WTA Tour]. But on that [ITF] level, nothing’s getting paid for, and you’re barely breaking even. I was there too at one point, so I know how it is.

“I do not need folks to get the concept that the ITF tour is Mickey Mouse in contrast to the WTA Tour, as a result of that is not the case.

“I feel a lot of admiration and respect for the women who continue to grind on the tour, because it’s not easy, even on the WTA Tour, it’s just not easy.”

Vemic, who joined Andreescu’s group in September 2025, echoed these ideas.

“Every player there needs to provide themselves and everyone is hungry and they’re not bored of playing many years on tour,” he says.

“They’re all driven by their dreams and passion because a lot of them are younger athletes.

“So generally it is a transitional half or stage of coming from juniors into skilled waters and some of them carry quite a bit of confidence.”