U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu is expected to get a hero’s welcome today as her hometown of Mississauga celebrates her historic win with a rally at Celebration Square.
The event, which has been dubbed the “She the North Rally,” is scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m.
It will be attended by Mississauga Mayor Bonnier Crombie, Toronto Mayor John Tory, federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and a host of other dignitaries.
“I am hoping we fill the square. We have a capacity of 30,000 people and I would like to invite 30,000 residents from right across the GTA to come down and celebrate our hometown champion and Canada’s champion,” Crombie told CP24 on Sunday morning. “I would hope that people start filling the square at 4 p.m. because we think space will be at a premium.”
Andreescu, who trained at Mississauga’s Ontario Racquet Club, defeated Serena Williams in straight sets last weekend to become the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam title.
Since her historic win, she has appeared on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ and ‘The View’ and was even congratulated by Drake after calling out the rapper for failing to reach out to her in the immediate aftermath of her win.
Crombie said that Andreescu will attend today’s rally with her parents and will also bring along her poodle Coco, who got lots of air time during her U.S. Open run.
During the rally, Andreescu will be presented with the keys to the city and officials will also unveil a “Andreescu Way" street sign.
Last week, Mississauga city council voted in favour of naming a street after Andreescu, though the precise street has not yet been selected.
“It probably won’t be a renaming, it will be a new street naming, so it will be the first available street,” Crombie said. “A lot of people have asked me why not court cause that sounds logical but a court is a specific shape of a street and we aren’t building those any longer. So we want the first available street in one of our premier new developments, whether it be in the downtown or by the waterfront.”
