Today, there is less and less doubt that Russian women’s tennis has a great future. Proof of this is at least the phenomenal Mirra Andreeva, who at the age of 16 is not afraid of even the most eminent rivals. However, there are other signs of gradually emerging greatness.

Junior “Roland Garros” is completely under the dictation of the Russians. As many as three representatives of our country reached the semi-finals of the tournament.

The fight for the title is now guaranteed!

Adult failures

At the adult tournament of the French Open, the Russians, unfortunately, no longer claim anything. In singles, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova went the farthest, losing in the quarterfinals to Czech Karolina Muchova (5:7, 2:6). In the doubles competition, our athletes also did not make it to the semi-finals. The last Russian duo remaining in the bracket (Veronika Kudermetova and Lyudmila Samsonova) also crashed out in the quarterfinals.

It may seem that there is no one else to worry about at Roland Garros. Even the Belarusian Arina Sobolenko flew out, unexpectedly losing to the same Mukhova in the semifinals. But there are still some left!

Our future

Russian juniors just tear everyone on the French courts. Four of our girls reached the quarterfinals of the tournament: Alina Korneeva, Alisa Oktyabreva, Anastasia Guryeva and Alevtina Ibragimova. The first three athletes eventually made it to the semi-finals, but the last one, alas, lost to her Peruvian rival Luciana Perez-Alarcon.

Now it turns out that Russia is guaranteed the final of the tournament. In the semifinals, Korneeva will meet with Oktyabreva, and Gurieva will have to fight for the right to play in the decisive match with the Peruvian. The favorite in this four can be considered Korneeva, who this year has already won the junior tournament of the Australian Open. The 15-year-old athlete then beat Mirra Andreeva, and won a strong-willed victory.

In the history of Roland Garros among juniors, there were nine finals with the participation of Russians. However, we only managed to win twice. This was done by Nadezhda Petrova in 1998 and Daria Kasatkina in 2014. But there has never been a completely Russian final at junior tournaments in France. So perhaps we are in for a historic moment.

I would like to believe that Russian women’s tennis, which has experienced a decline in recent years, will begin to gain momentum. The new generation of female athletes shows great promise, and big victories in major tournaments bring their professional development closer.