How Olympic tennis player Bianca Andreescu spends a day off in Toronto

Bianca Andreescu rocketed to tennis fame in 2019, when the then-19-year-old defeated Serena Williams (twice!) and became Canada’s first-ever Grand Slam singles champion. She made victory look easy, but the Mississauga native’s next few years were less than charmed. After missing seasons of play and sitting out the 2021 Olympics due to knee injuries and a mental health sabbatical, Andreescu is approaching Paris 2024 with a more balanced perspective. “The pressure to win is always going to be there, but just having the opportunity to play is a dream come true,” she says. “I’m looking forward to being part of the opening ceremony, the Olympic village—I’ve never experienced that.” Her downtime is dwindling as the games approach, but here’s how she spends her days off.

Morning

When I’m in Toronto, I’ll either stay with my parents at their house in Mississauga or at a hotel downtown, usually Hotel X. Either way, I like to sleep in. I won’t set an alarm, so some days I’ll sleep until 11:30 or noon, but mostly I get up between 10 and 11 a.m.

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I start my day with a 10-to-20-minute guided meditation. I’ll choose ones that focus on gratitude or visualization, where I think about what I want my day to look like. Two of my favourite people for guided meditations are Joe Dispenza and Ariya Lorenz, but mostly I’ll just go on YouTube, search “morning meditation” and choose whatever speaks to me that day. It’s a nice way to ground myself. After that, I’ll usually go for a walk or a bike ride. I like to stay pretty active. Often, I’ll go along the waterfront trail because I love being by the water.

Since I’m usually dressed for working out, I try to have some fun with clothes in my downtime. I’m really into dresses right now, but nothing too fancy—mostly summer dresses that are casual but chic. Historically, I’ve been pretty boring with my jewellery, so I’ve been trying to change that up more. I’ve started wearing hoop earrings, plus more necklaces and bracelets.

Then I have breakfast. I love to cook, so if I’m at my parents’ house I’ll whip up avocado toast with poached eggs or, if I’m going to be moving around a lot that day and want to get some carbs in, oatmeal and berries. I also love breakfast sausages—they’re my weakness. Usually I try to steer clear of them, but on a day off I’ll go all in. If I’m downtown, I’ll get brunch at Roses Social, which is inside Hotel X, for their chopped salad or lobster. I also like Chadwick’s on Howland Avenue. Their breakfast tacos and avocado toast are incredible. Generally, I try to stay away from coffee because I find it really dehydrates me, but I’ll get an iced oat-milk latte as a treat.

After breakfast, I’ll do a course on Mindvalley, which is an online personal-growth platform I subscribe to. It helps keep my mind occupied, because I struggle with just sitting around and doing nothing. Right now, I’m taking a course called Manifesting Mastery, which is about how to manifest your dream life, and another called Social Media Mastery, which is on how to connect with fans more and get more followers. The courses have weekly live calls, but most of the time I watch the recordings afterward because my schedule is so hectic.

If I want something more low-key, I’ll throw on some TV. I’ve been watching Baby Reindeer, which is so crazy. I also really like The Bachelorette, or any reality dating show.

Afternoon

For lunch, I often stop at Akira Back on Blue Jays Way for Japanese food. Their king crab fried rice is amazing. I also like Myth, which is a Greek restaurant, for the crispy zucchini chips on their appetizer menu. Another go-to spot for me is Kost, but that’s more for their drinks and the fantastic view—it’s on the 44th floor of the Bisha Hotel downtown.

I like to change up how I spend my afternoons when I’m in town. I might do some shopping at the Eaton Centre. I really like to check out Aritzia when I’m in Canada because they don’t have stores in most other countries. I also enjoy escape rooms, especially Enigma Escape Room in Toronto and Trapped in Vaughan. They’re so fun, and I love that it gets me in a competitive mindset. They keep me in that game-playing mode, which is important if I haven’t been playing tennis recently, plus figuring out all the clues and puzzles is really satisfying. I also try to get some volunteering in. I’m a regular at the Humane Society and Yellow Brick House, which is a shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

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I’ll try to go see a sports game if there’s anything on. I’m into hockey, basketball and baseball, but my favourite team to follow right now is the Maple Leafs. I only really started watching them play about a year ago, and I recently got to go to the NHL All-Star games, which was so fun. It’s a super intense sport—you kind of get that from watching it on TV, but it’s really clear when you’re there in person. It was tough watching them lose so much this year, obviously, but I do think they’re doing well overall. They get better every year, and Auston Matthews is just incredible. So there’s definitely still hope.

I also take hip hop dance classes sometimes. I took some time away from tennis in 2021 and 2022 for my mental health, and I tried exploring other passions, including martial arts. That’s when I picked up hip hop, and it stuck—it’s nice to do something completely different from tennis, with no pressure or competition, while still staying active. Moving your body is the best thing you can do for yourself. But one thing I do not do on my days off is train. Aside from recreational stuff, I try to be as much of a couch potato as possible—I get lots of training in on my proper working days.

Evening

At night, I like to spend some quality time with my parents, Maria and Nico. I’m out of town often, so it’s important to me to see them a lot when I’m here. If we’re going out, we really like the Octagon Steakhouse in Vaughan—literally everything on the menu there is awesome. Even if I’m staying downtown, it’s completely worth the drive to visit. Sometimes I follow that up with karaoke, usually at Dasha on King Street. My go to songs are “Kiss Me Through the Phone” by Soulja Boy and “One Time” by Justin Bieber.

These days, though, I mostly prefer to stay in. I’ll usually watch a bit more TV or a movie. I’m into a lot of different genres. I recently saw Mother of the Bride, a rom-com starring Brooke Shields, but I also love horror movies and will watch anything scary. For more reality TV, I’ll watch Selling Sunset or The Circle. I love that reality shows have real-life drama, and I especially enjoy ones like The Circle where there’s a competitive aspect. I like to put myself in the contestants’ shoes and try to think of what I would do, or I’ll make bets with whomever I’m watching with about who’s going to win.

Sometimes I’ll have baths in the evenings. I get quite uncomfortable in the hot water, and I usually end up on TikTok, which helps me zone out. Then I start to wind down with some reading. I’ve been working through Everything Is F*cked by Mark Manson, which is a self-help book about how to find hope even when it seems like the world is a mess. I try to stay off my phone at this point, but if I’m going to use it, I’ll put on blue-light glasses, which help filter and soften the light from the screen. Finally, I’ll do another gratitude meditation just before bed—sometimes the exact same one I did in the morning—to end my day feeling centred.