The Canadian teenager capped a meteoric rise this year with victory over
Serena Williams in the final at Flushing MeadowsBefore every tournament she plays and every move she makes, Bianca Andreescu sits down, closes her eyes and visualises exactly how the results will end in her favour. It has become one of the keys to her success, something she never fails to mention as people continue their attempts to make sense of one of the most astonishing breakthroughs in recent years, which culminated in the 19-year-old’s 6-3, 7-5 win against Serena Williams in the
US Open final on Saturday.
Such is the Romanian-Canadian’s commitment to thinking and speaking her successes into existence, she celebrated her triumph at the Orange Bowl in 2015, one of the most prestigious junior tournaments in the world, by writing herself a replica US Open prize-money cheque. Each year, she would update the cheque in line with the yearly prize money hike, refreshing her motivation for another season ahead. After she finally held the real thing, all $3,850,000 of it, she thought back to four years earlier and cried.