"My mind is all over the place" - Bianca Andreescu after her Indian Wells loss to Anett Kontaveit
Bianca Andreescu's unbeaten record at the BNP Paribas Open came to an end on Monday, as she lost to Anett Kontaveit in the third round. Andreescu, who won the tournament's last edition in 2019, went down 6-7(5), 3-6 despite holding leads in both sets.
The Canadian has endured a rather woeful run of form since the Miami Open earlier this year. In fact, her results have gone from bad to worse in the ongoing American hardcourt series, during which she has lost five out of 10 matches.
Although Bianca Andreescu did make it to the fourth round at the US Open, she fell early in Montreal, Cincinnati, Chicago and Indian Wells.
Against that background, the 21-year-old was asked during her press conference whether she needed more time in practice or more matches under her belt. In response, Andreescu revealed that her mind was "all over the place", before adding that practice and getting more matches were equally important.
"Yeah, that's a very good question," Bianca Andreescu said. "My mind's all over the place with many different thoughts and opinions, but I think it's both."
Andreescu admitted that she has struggled to consistently apply the things she has picked up during her practice sessions. She further acknowledged that she needs to train harder when she's not at a tournament.
"I think it's more of just being on the court and practicing really hard and working on certain things, because you see glimpses of me applying a lot of the things I work on in practice but it's not consistent," Andreescu said. "So I think it has to do with both, but more on practicing and working harder in practice and yeah, just hoping I can do it in my matches more often."
Bianca Andreescu claimed that she failed to produce her best tennis against Anett Kontaveit. The Canadian pointed out that the conditions and the weather made things tough for her, and she also highlighted that Kontaveit wasn't at her best either.
"I think today I didn't play my best, and I didn't feel my best," Bianca Andreescu said. "But I had to deal with what I had, and obviously it wasn't enough."
"I mean, the conditions were a bit tough as well, with the wind and with the sun," she added. "Anett, I honestly don't think she played her best tennis either, but she was the better player today."
"Anett Kontaveit is an aggressive player" - Bianca Andreescu
Bianca Andreescu's defeat against Anett Kontaveit was her third career loss against the Estonian, and the second in 2021. Andreescu has not managed to beat Kontaveit so far, with her previous loss coming at Eastbourne earlier this year.
When asked about the difficulty of the match-up, Bianca Andreescu pointed out that the Estonian is an "aggressive player". Turning her attention to their match at Eastbourne, the Canadian highlighted that Kontaveit is more comfortable and proficient than herself on grass.
"Yeah, she's an aggressive player, but the match on grass is definitely different than today," Bianca Andreescu said. "I think her game suits the grass court very well, and I'm still new to grass. It's definitely not my favorite surface, but I'm sure I'm going to gain more and more experience."