19 year old Bianca Andreescu has Canadians excited about tennis again. It is so nice to have a Canadian female to cheer for, especially as we have just come down from Raptors fever. I love tennis and I paid especially close attention in the early 90s. Here were my idols:
I loved everything about her. When I was around 14, someone said I looked like her and it just made me want to be like her even more. She married Andre Agassi and they are still together!
Whose name I believed to be Carly until today. She seemed like royalty to me. Beautiful and Canadian and she broke the top 10 in the 80s.
She was young and fiery and I loved her name. She was so powerful and when I would make things up in my head, I always imagined that one day she would happen upon the Stratford tennis club and we would play and she would tell me I was really good. (I also used to daydream about Boy George being my uncle…)
Andre was a bit of a disruptor with his flashy clothes and laid back attitude. He was like a tennis movie star. His autobiography Open is a must-read.
No tennis post would be complete without Serena. She is the best female tennis player of all time and she is a fierce feminist. She is what the tennis world needed.
There are SO many more amazing and entertaining tennis players that have captured my attention over the years. Who are your favourite players?
(Photo credits: Bianca Andreescu, Sports Interaction; Steffi Graf, International Tennis Hall of Fame; Carling Bassett, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame; Gabriela Sabatini, Sports Photo Agency; Andre Agassi, Bongarts/Getty Images; Serena Williams, Emilie Chinn)
