Bianca Andreescu of Canada holds the championship trophy during the trophy ceremony. (Source: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)When Gayle Benjamin invited a friend to travel from his home in Calgary, Alberta, to visit her in New York, she already had tickets to the US Open women’s final. A devoted fan of Serena Williams, Benjamin never thought that Arthur Telesford, her Canadian friend, would become a liability.
But as it turned out, Williams faced a Canadian, Bianca Andreescu, in the final Saturday, and Telesford, who wore a bright red shirt and a baseball cap with the flag of Canada on it, cheered for his compatriot.
“I told him, don’t wear the red and the Canadian flag,” said Benjamin, a construction manager from New York, “because you will be the only one.”
He was far from it. There were many Canadians sprinkled among the more than 23,000 fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium. They wore red and white clothes adorned with maple leafs and waved Canadian flags as they rooted for Andreescu.
With their small but vocal support behind her, No. 15 Andreescu beat Williams, 6-3, 7-5, to become the first Canadian Grand Slam singles champion.
It was the second major Canadian sports first in 2019.
In June, the Toronto Raptors became the first Canadian team to win an NBA title. For a country with a population (about 37 million) that is roughly one-tenth of the United States’, Canada has enjoyed some outsize success in sports recently.
Sept 7, 2019; Flushing, NY, USA; Bianca Andreescu of Canada with the US Open championship trophy after beating Serena Williams of the USA in the women’s singles final on day thirteen of the 2019 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY“It’s something in the water,” said Matt Vong, an engineer from Vancouver, British Columbia, who lives in New York. “The Raptors and now Bianca. It is kind of similar. They showed zero fear.”
Andreescu’s championship is the culmination of an effort by Tennis Canada over the past several years to find and develop young champions who could compete on the biggest stages. Andreescu, 19, began working with the organization when she was 10 and credits it for her success.
Louis Borfiga is the architect of Tennis Canada’s development program, and after the match, he found Sylvain Bruneau, Andreescu’s coach, and they shared a hug in the players’ lounge.
READ | Bianca Andreescu embraces spotlight with US Open triumph
“This is incredible for Canada and Canadian tennis,” Bruneau said. “It is our biggest moment. We don’t have too much of a tennis history, but we are trying to build it. And you know what? It makes me so happy for every tennis fan in the country that Bianca is able to provide moments like this. She can attract more people to tennis. We can make it even more popular.”
A few hundred Canadian fans, including Vong, gathered behind the ESPN set on the grounds to celebrate, too. They cheered and waved their flags while Andreescu was being interviewed, and roared when she held her trophy up to them.
Bianca Andreescu, of Canada, serves to Serena Williams, of the United States, during the women’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)Andreescu, whose parents are from Romania and moved to Canada in 1994, was born in Mississauga, Ontario, in 2000, and considers herself a product of a welcoming nation.
“Canada is such an amazing country,” she said. “It’s so multicultural. I had no trouble growing up having Romanian parents whatsoever. That’s why I love my country so, so much.”
Panda Vallecilla, a psychologist from Toronto, and two friends watched Andreescu’s second-round win over Kirsten Flipkens on little Court 5 last week. The three Canadian comrades went back to Canada for work but vowed that if Andreescu made it to the final, they would return.
Vallecilla and his friends made red hats that read, “She The North” — a play on the Raptors’ rallying cry, “We the North.” They wore shirts with Andreescu’s likeness on the front and Felix Auger-Aliassime’s on the back. Auger-Aliassime is one of several young Canadian players, including Denis Shapovalov, Eugenie Bouchard and Andreescu, striving to raise the profile of Canadian tennis.
Sep 7, 2019; Flushing, NY, USA; Bianca Andreescu of Canada (R) holds the championship trophy as Serena Williams of the United States (L) holds the finalistÕs trophy during the trophy ceremony after their match in the womenÕs final on day thirteen of the 2019 US Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports“In Canada we have unbelievably loyal fans,” Vallecilla said. “There is so much support, and you saw that with the Raptors too. If only we can get the Maple Leafs to win for a change.”
(The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967, the longest championship drought in the NHL.)
Nicu Andreescu, Bianca’s father, said he was heartened by how much support his daughter received from the Canadians around the stadium and the grounds. But he was still finding it hard to believe her victory really happened.
“First you have the Raptors winning the championship and now we have the first Canadian Grand Slam champion,” he said. “It is beyond reality.”
