"So crazy to think" - Bianca Andreescu on Roger Federer's admission of winning only 54 percent of his points and the importance of "never giving up"
Bianca Andreescu expressed her astonishment at Roger Federer's recent admission about the percentage of points he won over the course of his illustrious career. The Canadian said that Federer's admission indicated the significance of 'never throwing in the towel' in sports. The Canadian also expressed confidence about improvements in her own game.
Federer was recently honored with a doctorate degree at the prestigious Dartmouth College. The former World No. 1 also delivered a soul-stirring speech for the private university's latest set of graduates. Through his speech, the Swiss shared the three most important lessons his illustrious tennis career had taught him. One of those lessons was about winning even when one is not playing at their best.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner revealed during his speech that while he had won over 80 percent of his matches on the ATP Tour, he had won only 54 percent of the total points played across all those encounters.
"Perfection is impossible. In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. But what percentage of points did I win? 54%. In other words, even top ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points they play," Federer said.
Andreescu, who featured as a guest on a recent episode of the WTA Insider Podcast, took notice of Federer's admission. The former WTA World No. 4 cited an example from her own experience, opining that Federer's words highlighted the importance of "never giving up".
"He just points out how he won 80 percent of his matches, but he only won like 54 percent of those points, which is so crazy to think. Any match can go any way. Like, I think in my match against Kalinskaya in the second round at Roland Garros, I think I lost more points than I won. Never giving up is the main thing and I feel like I'm starting to get that back more and more, which is nice," Andreescu said.
Bianca Andreescu admitted to supporting Roger Federer since she was a child in 2021
At a pre-tournament press conference ahead of the 2021 Miami Open, Bianca Andreescu was hilariously mistaken for Belinda Bencic before she was asked if she had ever met Federer in-person. The Canadian said that despite never having met the Swiss, she grew up watching him play.
"I've never met him. I might have taken a picture with him when I was little. I don't remember. But I've seen him play ever since I was little," Andreescu said.
Bianca Andreescu showed glimpses of her past brilliance at the recently-concluded Libema Open, where she finished as the runner-up following a dramatic 6-4, 3-6, 5-7 loss to No. 2 seed Liudmila Samsonova. As a result, she climbed 65 spots up to 163rd in the WTA rankings.