Injury-plagued Andreescu could still defend Indian Wells title

Bianca Andreescu will decide in a few days whether to defend her title in Indian Wells, according to her coach.

Andreescu has been off the tour since injuring her knee during the WTA Finals, but she is now in Indian Wells, though unsure if she will play the event where she pulled off a surprise victory in 2019.

"It's been a long road, a long recovery," said her coach, Sylvain Bruneau, speaking to Sportsnet. "Especially recently, we’ve had some really good momentum and things are in, I would say, good shape."

But there will be no decision until the beginning of next week, he added. The 19-year-old has had frequent injury problems and has withdrawn from several events this season to get fully healthy.

"We're going to take no risk," he said. "So we’re hoping it’s going to be good to go for Indian Wells, but we need a few more days."

Even with injury problems, the Canadian's rise on tour has been rapid. She began 2019 below the Top 100 before winning Indian Wells, Toronto, and the US Open, playing just two events in between because of shoulder issues.

Her success led to a heavy schedule for a young player, noted Bruneau.

"I think we just need to be careful with some other aspects as far as the number of tournaments, monitor her matches and the number of matches she plays, the time spends on court," he said, adding that "her game might have been a little bit ahead of her fitness level."

''And it catches up to you and she was not used to this intensity during the matches and the level and I think it caught up to her."

Andreescu is No. 4 in the rankings.