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She’s only 16 years old, but Russian Mirra Andreeva is wowing the fans at Melbourne Park – all while balancing her schoolwork and snakes.
The teen sensation reached the third round with a stunning boilover of sixth seed Ons Jabeur on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, crushing the three-time slam finalist 6-0 6-2.
And then she had fans eating out of the palm of her hand with a charming on-court interview.
The interviewer began by saying that the 16-year-old looked nerveless throughout her first-ever win over a top-ten player.
Andreeva wasn’t having a bar of it, replying: “That’s not true!”
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“I was really nervous before the match because I’m really inspired by Ons, by the way she plays. Before I started to play on the WTA tour I always watched her matches and I was always so inspired by the way she plays. Now I had the chance to play against her.”
And the frank teen was happy to admit even she didn’t expect to perform so well against the Tunisian veteran.
“Honestly in the first set I showed some amazing tennis. Honestly I didn’t expect that from myself!”
“I just wanted to play on this big court for the second time (after the girl’s final last year) and just enjoy tennis, just to enjoy the time — and I did.”
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Andreeva was left in tears after losing an epic girl’s singles final last year to her then doubles partner Alina Korneeva 6–7 (2–7), 6–4, 7–5.
Since then, the teen has followed 19-year-old sister Erika onto the senior tour, rocketing up the rankings and beating a host of top-20 players. She reached the third round at the French Open, the fourth at Wimbledon, and the second at the US Open.
But asked if she felt her game had improved significantly over the last 12 months, Andreeva had the crowd in stitches again when she replied: “Uh, no. I just feel like I am a bit more mature than I was before.”
The interviewer couldn’t believe it, saying: “You’re only 16.”
But Andreeva retorted: “Last year I was 15!
“This year I think I changed a lot. I think you can see that on the court.”
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Andreeva is currently ranked 47th in the world – comfortably the highest of any player under 18 – but that’s set to rise further when the rankings update after the tournament.
For now, she’s just trying to focus on her tennis rather than the rankings.
She said in her post-match press conference: “I just try to not to think about that … Sometimes when I’m lying in bed, I can overthink a little bit, but the next morning I’m totally fine.
“I mean, I’m 16. Why do I have to think about the rankings?”
While playing in a grand slam isn’t a typical experience for most 16-year-olds, Andreeva showed her tender age when she revealed she’s juggling schoolwork with her tennis duties this week.
“I still don’t like chemistry,” she said with a laugh.
“I still have to do a lot of school. It actually started two days ago, so I have to do it, so yeah.”
And her youthful exuberance was on full display as she opened up on hanging out with a number of Australian animals – including koalas and snakes – that were brought to the players’ terrace on Tuesday.
“When I arrived here I saw on [January] 16 they will bring the animals. I told myself I had to be here for [January] 16 to watch all the animals!”
“I held the snake, I did it with my agent,” she added. “He was so scared, but I forced him to do it.”
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