Bianca Andreescu reveals injury trouble during Canadian Open exit, hints at missing Cincinnati Masters

Bianca Andreescu has revealed that the SI joint pain in her back flared up during her defeat to Camila Giorgi at the Canadian Open. She further stated that it puts doubt on her Cincinnati Masters participation.

Andreescu took on Giorgi in a battle of former Montreal champions on Tuesday, August 8. Despite the partisan crowd behind Andreescu, the Canadian ran into the hard-hitting Italian qualifier, who wrapped up the first-round match 6-3, 6-2 to send the hometown favorite packing.

The loss wasn't the only bad news for Andreescu, who consulted the WTA trainer midway through the second set for a back issue. At her press conference after the match, she revealed that a back injury that troubled her at the Citi Open in Washington had flared up.

"Last week during my match in Washington, I experienced some back pain. Some SI joint pain, to be exact. I've had this before. I've had to deal with it many times, actually. It got better for a few days, and then I started playing again, and then obviously I felt some irritation, but I saw some light at the end of the tunnel," she explained.

"But with SI joint pain, it's very difficult because it's nothing very serious, but if you do push, you do feel a lot of pain. That's what I experienced one of the days practicing before the tournament. And then, practice and competing in a tournament is totally different. So obviously today I felt it a bit more, and it did impact my performance, sadly," she added.

When asked about what the future held in store for her, the 23-year-old from Mississauga stated that she remains doubtful about taking part in the Cincinnati Masters.

"I'm going to speak to my team about that, but I definitely need to take a few days off. It just sucks that it started during this tournament. Yeah, it really sucks. I don't know if I'm going to play Cincinnati. The goal is obviously US Open," she expressed.

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Bianca Andreescu's injury history: A brief recap

Bianca Andreescu with the 2019 Rogers Cup trophy in Toronto.

Bianca Andreescu was in sensational form in 2019, when she clinched the Canadian Open (then called the Rogers Cup) title and the US Open crown. She was ranked World No. 4 in October 2019, when a knee injury — a torn meniscus in her left knee — forced her out of the game for more than a year.

In April of 2021, she was forced to withdraw from a tournament in Miami following a foot injury. She later tested positive for COVID-19 and had to pull out of the Madrid Open. Andreescu then took a mental break from the sport, opting to sit out the start of the 2022 season, including the Australian Open.

This year, she left the Miami Open in a wheelchair after suffering an ankle injury, which later turned out to be two torn ligaments. It was her third exit at the tournament, after retiring due to a shoulder injury in 2019 and pulling out in 2021 with an ankle injury.