The day after Bianca Andreescu’s historic U.S.-Open win, the Brookmede Park tennis courts in her native Mississauga were full.
Amateur local tennis players like the Church family had literally dusted off their rackets to spend their Sunday practising the sport—inspired by their hometown hero.
“I think we jumped on the bandwagon, to be honest with you, watching the Rogers Cup and seeing how well she was doing and then morphing into the U.S. Open,” William Church told CTV News Toronto.
His 10-year-old son Matthew, racquet in hand, said he followed the win from the edge of the couch.
“My legs were shaking when I was watching it.”
Andreescu became the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title on Saturday, beating Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5 despite a late rally by Williams. The victory prompted patriotism across Canadian social media, trending in the GTA and beyond with the hashtag #SheTheNorth.
Down the court at Brookmede, Shahed Ghadbean, who, like Andreescu, is 19 and from Mississauga, said she hadn’t played tennis in years—until this weekend.
“When I saw that [Andreescu] was playing, and she was winning, I was like maybe I should get back into it,” she said.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, meanwhile, was already making plans to celebrate the teen by naming a street after her and presenting her with a key to the city.
“She’s such a fierce, fearless, bold competitor,” said Crombie. “She's a Mississauga native, but she’s Canada’s champion.”
