After withdrawing this Saturday from the
Miami Open
final
, Canadian tennis player
Bianca Andreescu
acknowledged that she wanted to continue playing despite the injury and thanked her physical trainer for dissuading her.
"
I really didn't want to stop,
" admitted the young player, still under strong emotion, in the press video conference.
"Abdul (Sillah), my physical trainer,
saved me from myself because I've been through this before
, pushing me to the point of making it worse."
Andreescu, who has suffered an ordeal of injuries in recent years, left the final against Australia's
Ashleigh Barty
, world number one, when she was behind 6-4 and 4-0 with one hour and two minutes of play.
The fierce Canadian, number nine in the world rankings, suffered a
severe fall in the third game of the second set
that led her to seek medical attention.
After having her right ankle bandaged, Andreescu made an attempt to continue playing but
the pain and the possibility
of worsening the injury led her to withdraw in tears.
"My body seemed fine until today. I think it was just an accident, I sprained my foot. But other than that I am very grateful, it was one of my first tournaments in a long time," she said.
"
Nobody wants to end a tournament by retiring
, especially in a final. But these things happen and I have to think about my career.
I am 20 years old and I do not want to put anything at risk,
" he stressed.
"It's hard to say this, but I'm glad I stopped."
The player did not give more details about the injury, which adds to another
knee problem
that kept her away from the courts for several months before the stoppage of the circuit due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Andreescu spent a year in
Canada
without playing and in Miami he was only playing his third tournament of 2021, after a failed return at the
Australian Open
in which he lost in the second round.
In Miami, she exhibited great form, achieving marathon victories that were reminiscent of the player who dazzled by winning the 2019 US Open. Andreescu appreciated
Barty's
words of consolation
on the net after the retirement.
"She is a great player, and I think I am a pretty decent player too. If we are healthy we will play many games and it will be fun. She is a great challenge," he acknowledged.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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