Canada’s Andreescu drops out of Indian Wells, still not ‘100 per cent’

Bianca-Andreescu

Bianca Andreescu in 2019. (Andy Wong / AP)

Canadian Bianca Andreescu will not be defending her title at Indian Wells.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., announced that she will sit out next week’s BNP Paribas Open via the tournament’s Twitter account.

“As many of you know, I’ve been working through an injury I suffered last year during the WTA Finals. It’s been a long road to recovery and while I was looking forward to getting back on court and defending my title at Indian Wells, unfortunately, I’m still not 100 per cent,” said Andreescu.

The reigning U.S. Open champion suffered a left knee injury and retired against Karolina Pliskova during the WTA Finals in China last October. She has yet to play in a competitive match since then.

Her coach Sylvain Bruneau told Sportsnet earlier this week that the tennis star was flying down to Palm Springs, Calif., on Friday to see if her knee was ready for the rigours of an extended tournament.

Andreescu captured her first WTA title at last year’s Indian Wells, entering the event as a wild card before taking down three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the final.

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