Episode 9 of The Big T, a Tennis Channel podcast, will be available to listen on your favorite streaming platforms at 7 p.m. ET—click here for the latest drop.
This week’s episode goes on the road, to the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, where Coco, BG and Petch break down the brackets and catch up with two players to watch…
Google “Bianca Andreescu” and go to her page on the WTA website—after you’ve already visited her TENNIS.com player page, of course. Does anything stick out? This did to me: her doubles stats, rather than her singles, are displayed first.
That’s likely because Andreescu’s current doubles ranking, 160, is five spots higher than her singles rank, but it was jarring to see for this former US Open, Canadian Open and Indian Wells champion. She won all those titles in an out-of-nowhere 2019 season—Bianca was just 18 when she won IW—but hasn’t come close to replicating such highs. (She hasn’t won a WTA title of any sort since.) Unquestionably talented but often injured, Canadian lost eight of her last 11 matches in 2025.
“I’m trying to, I guess, reclaim that dangerous, fearless Bianca that can really stand a chance against anyone, and I think I’m getting there,” Andreescu said on The Big T. “I just feel that, before, I was focusing too much on, you know, trying to go back to 2019, so living in the past.
“And now…it’s like recreating the new Bianca, what is it? 7.0.”
So as the 2026 season started, Andreescu started over. While the tennis world was focused on Australia, she entered a W35 tournament in Bradenton, Fla. Ranked 227th and seeded No. 1, she won five matches to collect $4,860 and, more importantly, 35 WTA ranking points. Andreescu entered another W35 the next week, losing in the semifinals, before winning a W75 in Vero Beach to close out a 13-1 January.
“Going back to those levels, was a decision obviously that wasn’t easy, right? In a way, I guess I’m going the Agassi route,” Andreescu told Brad Gilbert—who famously coached Andre when he decided to play down and compete in the sport’s lower levels.
“I think what’s amazing is I finally got some match rhythm, which I haven’t had over the last few years. I got as many matches as I did in those three weeks, like all of last year.”
After playing a main-draw match last week in Austin, Andreescu will compete at the BNP Paribas Open as a wild card. If she wins her first-rounder, Coco Gauff awaits.
“It’ll be interesting to see how my level right now, with what I’m implementing and what I’m working on, can show face against someone like that,” she said of a potential match-up. “I’m very excited.”