It’s always great to watch an athlete go through “the firsts” at the highest level of their sport.
Six years ago, I was lucky enough to speak with Weyburn golfer Graham DeLaet days before he left to compete in The Open Championship for the first time.
He talked about how he and his wife made a scene at the Toronto airport when they learned the news that he was going to play in that major.
He talked about how, a short time after admiring Mike Weir, he was playing practice rounds with him. DeLaet also spoke of going from being an admirer to being a friend of Ernie Els.
I was reminded of that again on the weekend, as 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu defeated legend Serena Williams in final of the US Open.
Now we are watching Andreescu go through “the firsts” of winning a major, posing for pictures, and getting heightened media attention for the first time, and her disbelief of it all.
The innocence is refreshing.