Bianca Andreescu opens up on mental health journey: 'I was basing so much of my self-worth on results'

WATCH: One of the highlights for Bianca Andreescu this year was a fourth-round showing in Miami, where she beat Emma Raducanu in the first round.

May in Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States, and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is opening up on her mental health journey.

In part one of what's being teased as a three-part video series for the WTA in partnership with the tour's sponsor Modern Health, released Wednesday, Andreescu gets candid in addressing the six-month sabbatical she took from tennis between 2021 and 2022, saying she came close to calling time on her career.

"Looking back now, I know that I did not have enough love for myself outside of just being a tennis player," she says. "I felt like I was basing so much of my self-worth on results.

"At the time, I had no idea because I never really felt that way, ever, in my life. I was confused. I was shocked, overwhelmed. I had no idea what to do. As harsh as it sounds, I wanted to quit the sport. I had no love for the game whatsoever, so at that point [was] when I took my break, my mental break."

Andreescu's candor is topical, too, as it comes little more than a week after 21-year-old American Amanda Anisimova shared she too will be taking a sabbatical for the good of her mental health.

In the nearly five-minute clip, the Canadian also addresses the support her parents, Nicu and Maria, have given her since her earliest days, and she and her mom are documented watching family videos of her on the court as a child.

Andreescu returned to the tour last spring at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a renewed vigor for tennis. Last month, she returned to the Top 30 in the rankings, having been ranked as low as No. 121 when she returned. Seeded No. 24 this week at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, she'll face former Roland Garros finalist Marketa Vondrousova in her first match.

"I realized that I really do love the sport and I do want to continue, but not just to win Grand Slams, or to do this and that," Andreescu told WTA Insider last year ahead of her comeback. "I want to do something bigger in the sport and I want to help contribute to a better world as well. I realize that tennis is my way toward that."

She's already making an impact: Andreescu recently re-upped her commitment as an ambassador for 'The Mental Timeout,' a Tennis Canada initiative to improve the wellbeing of all tennis players across the country, which is in its second year.

"As an athlete, I know the importance of mental health, and I want to inspire the next generation to prioritize mental health and seek guidance when needed," she wrote last week on Twitter in announcing the partnership.

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in May in the United States since 1949.