After the 16-year-old Russian teenager advanced to the fourth round on her debut at Wimbledon, Mirra Andreeva is quickly becoming one of Wimbledon’s success stories. Andreeva, who made her grand slam debut on clay at the French Open earlier this season with a run to the third round, has taken it a step further and is gaining support at the All England Club. Amazingly, until arriving at Wimbledon qualifying last week, Andreeva had never played a professional match on grass. Despite this, she won three straight sets to go to the main draw.
By the time Andreeva was born in April 2007, Roger Federer had already won four Wimbledon championships. It is therefore not unexpected that the 16-year-old is the youngest player still in the Wimbledon main draw. Erika Andreeva, Andreeva’s older sister, and a professional tennis player, claims that her mother introduced her to the game when she was a very young child.
Mirra Andreeva made her breakthrough on clay at the Madrid Open, her first tournament after turning professional this year
Honestly, I didn’t choose this sport. Andreeva earlier this season told the WTA, “My mother did. “I feel like I really belong to this sport, so I’m really happy that my mum chose it.” Andreeva made her breakthrough on clay at the Madrid Open, her first tournament after turning professional this year, and advanced to the third round. Upon arriving at her first grand slam at Roland Garros, she won three matches in qualifying to reach the main draw. She was knocked out in three sets by Coco Gauff, who reached the Wimbledon fourth round as a 15-year-old in 2019.
Andreeva demonstrated her self-assurance by stating that her tennis goal was to “win 25 grand slam titles” after being motivated by Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of the men’s record. Andreeva, who rose from outside the top 300 in the past two months and is now poised to break into the top 100, expressed her confidence by doing so. Andreeva claimed she was awestruck when she spotted Andy Murray in the player’s restaurant during her breakout performance at the Madrid Open. “When you sit here and take in all the stars, like Andy Murray, you see his face,” she said. “He is so beautiful in life. Sorry, he is so amazing.”
Murray received a congratulations text from Andreeva after winning a Challenger tournament in France before Roland Garros and the two-time Wimbledon champion replied. I was quite pleased that he had responded, Andreeva remarked. “He thanked me and wished me luck at Roland Garros,” She claimed that Murray was her “good luck charm” after reaching the third round, proving that it was undoubtedly successful. However, Andreeva claimed she was “too shy” to speak to her idol once she arrived at Wimbledon.
She defeated fellow Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-5 in the third round of the Wimbledon tournament on Sunday
“I met Andy Murray here,” Andreeva revealed. “But I’m too shy to talk to him. When I see him, I try to leave the facility super quick just to not talk to him because I’m super shy.” Andreeva defeated fellow Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-5 in the third round of the Wimbledon tournament on Sunday. The teenager, who has become a crowd favorite, was visibly moved during the match. It came after victories over Xiyu Wang in the first round and former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in the second round. The 10th seed injured herself during the second round and had to leave the match as Andreeva led 6-3, 4-0. Andreeva has dazzled with her brave, attacking style and potent forehand, but the 16-year-old is also a passionate player on the court and wears her heart on her sleeve.
As she attempted to close out a victory against Potapova, Andreeva slapped her thigh upon losing a crucial point but regained her composure to break the 22nd seed and serve out the biggest win of her career so far. “I always want to win, doesn’t matter which tournament, which round. I always go to win,” Andreeva said. “I will just do my best. If I can advance to the round of 16, I will be super happy. If I can advance to the semifinal, I will be of course super happy. I will just try to do my best, then we will see what will I do. But honestly, I don’t have any goals. I just play.”
Ahead of the second season of the documentary series BreakPoint, Netflix cameras are also observing Andreeva at Wimbledon. Due to the prohibition on Russian and Belarusian athletes competing at the Championships following the invasion of Ukraine, Andreeva was not permitted to compete at Wimbledon last year.