Bianca Andreescu is taking a cautious approach to her long-awaited return to competition tennis with the world No.8 withdrawing from the Grampians Trophy, due to start on Wednesday.

The Canadian hasn’t played a grand slam event in 15 months, since shocking Serena Williams in the 2019 US Open final as a teenager.

The 20-year-old missed the first few months of 2020 with a knee injury that she suffered at the 2019 WTA Finals, and she then battled a foot issue.

She was forced into hard quarantine in her Melbourne hotel on arrival for the Australian Open when her coach, Sylvain Bruneau, tested positive to coronavirus after their charter flight.

Andreescu said she decided to use the time leading into the Open, starting on February 8, to focus on training rather than competition.

“Following the last two weeks in quarantine, it feels so good to finally be back on the court,” Andreescu said in a statement.

“After discussing it with my team, we have decided to focus this week on training for the Australian Open and miss the Grampians.

“Many thanks to Tennis Australia and the WTA for their hard work in providing us all of these choices. See you all at the Australian Open!”

The Grampians Trophy at Melbourne Park will run through to Sunday, catering for the players that were in hard lockdown and unable to train.

World No.12 Belinda Bencic now becomes the highest-seeded player in the draw, which also includes grand slam champions Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, Sloane Stephens, and Svetlana Kuznetsova.