Mirra was born on April 29, 2007 in Krasnoyarsk, where she began playing tennis. Later, the family began to live in the Moscow region and Sochi, and in 2022 Andreeva moved to Cannes, training at the elite Academy of Jean-René Lisnard.
First, her sister Erica, who is three years older than Mirra, came to tennis. The mother sent her eldest son to the court at the age of four – to the Tennis Hall club with coach Marina Pavlova. Mirra began to study a little later, at the age of six, when her sister had already achieved her first successes at the children’s level. The girls’ mother had to give up and concentrate on the children’s sports career, and Eric and Mirra were transferred to a part-time school: young athletes paid off their debts when they had time.
It is impossible to achieve serious results at the international level while living and training in Krasnoyarsk. Therefore, the Andreev family was forced to move first to Zhukovsky, and then to Sochi, where the sisters trained under the guidance of Kirill Kryukov. The specialist is still part of the Mirra team. The first to achieve international success was Erica, who at the age of 14 became the third racket in the world in her age category.
Mirra won her first serious women’s tennis tournament in April 2022, also at the age of 14. It was at the ITF in Antalya, Turkey, where she confidently defeated five opponents. In total, during the year, the Russian junior managed to win four ITF tournaments – in El Espinar, Meytar and another in Antalya. In October 2022, she made her debut in the main draw of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour – she took part in the WTA 250 tournament in Tunisia, receiving a wild card.
The year 2023 was a decisive year for the young tennis player. Already in April, Mirra won two ITF clay court tournaments held in Switzerland – in Chiasso and Bellinzona, entering the WTA top 200 for the first time. Andreeva became the only player in ITF history to win multiple ITF W60 or higher titles before turning 16. Thanks to her success at the ITF level, Andreeva received a wild card to the thousandth WTA in Madrid, where she defeated in turn Canadian Leila Fernandez (49th world racket), Brazilian Beatrice Haddad Maia (14) and Polish Magda Linette (19). Thus, Mirra became the youngest tennis player to reach the 1/8 finals of a WTA 1000 tournament.
In May, she reached the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, winning the French Open qualifying final. Andreeva became the youngest tennis player since 1995 to qualify for Roland Garros. In addition, the Russian immediately won two main draw victories, defeating American Alison Riske and Frenchwoman Diane Parry. She was eliminated from the tournament only by world number 6 Cori Gauff.
This summer, she again appeared in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, this time at Wimbledon. Andreeva reached the round of 16, repeating the record of Maria Sharapova, previously the only tennis player in the 21st century to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon at the age of 17. There, Mirra lost to American Madison Keys in three sets.
Interestingly, the Russian’s opponent received a match point for a penalty due to Andreeva’s racket throw. Keys implemented it.
After the success at Wimbledon, the Russian gained popularity and many began to compare her to Sharapova. Andreeva herself, in response to these comparisons, admitted that although she would like to meet and talk with the five-time Grand Slam winner, she “has her own career and life.”
Also this summer, following the success of the young athlete, rumors appeared that Andreeva was going to change her citizenship to French. But in August, the tennis player’s agent, and then Mirra herself, officially denied this information. The girl said that she would continue to compete for Russia and would definitely return home to Krasnoyarsk for the holidays.
In October, Andreeva entered the WTA top 50, gaining 379 places in the world rankings during the year and taking the 46th place. The Russian finished her productive calendar year with the World Tennis League (WTL) tournament, where she became the champion in a team with Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Sofia Kenin. At the end of the season, the WTA recognized her as “Rookie of the Year”.
Andreeva’s debut at the Australian Open was also quite successful. In the second round, she defeated world number six Ons Jabeur, giving her only two sets. It was her first victory against a top-10 opponent. In April, the Russian broke another record by winning seven WTA 1000 tournaments at the age of 17.
Having turned 17 in April, Andreeva came to Roland Garros and made a splash: she reached the semi-finals! After facing Emina Bektas, Victoria Azarenka, Peyton Stearns and Varvara Gracheva in turn, the Russian faced world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka and managed to beat her in three sets. Thus, Andreeva, who rose to 23rd place in the WTA rankings, became the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist since 1997, when Martina Hingis reached this stage at the US Open.
It is equally significant that this happened on the courts of the Roland Garros tennis complex, where the tennis tournament of the 2024 Olympic Games will take place.
Comment by the President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamilya Tarpishcheva for :
“Mirra has improved significantly this year and has made a big effort to eventually become the leader of our team. I am glad that she is not overworked: at this age it is important not to overwork and to work on the game. All this is inherent in Mirra, who can play both alone and in a pair. We plan to stage it as a duo in Paris. She has a strong-willed Siberian character and a great future.
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Source : MatchTV
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
