“I hate that weed!” 16-year-old star from Russia effectively made her way to Wimbledon

Mirra Andreeva, perhaps, can safely claim the title of the main discovery of Russian and world tennis this year. The 16-year-old athlete flashed at the prestigious junior tournament in Australia, had several bright matches in the main draw of Roland Garros, became the heroine of the Netflix series, and now also lights up at Wimbledon.

So far everything is going well

This year, Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva has already made a name for herself. She played in the junior tournament final at the Australian Open. Then she qualified for the main draw of the French Open for adults. It was not possible to reach the main matches, but still managed to knock out several strong rivals from the draw.

After participating in Roland Garros, where Andreeva eventually reached the third round, fans expect something similar from the Russian woman at Wimbledon. But first, the girl needed to qualify for a prestigious tournament. To do this, it was necessary to defeat three more experienced rivals, and at the same time cope with nerves and circumstances.

“I fell three times in the first practice. It was quite difficult for me to get used to the grass: a different movement, the ball bounces differently, the grass is slippery. I feel a little slow, but I think it’s okay. I try to take small steps and still feel the danger on the court. But, as we can see, so far everything is going well, – the WTA press service quoted Andreev.

In the first round of qualifying, Mirra defeated Spaniard Rosa Vises, in the second – Frenchwoman Chloe Paquet. In the third round, they had to fight with 28-year-old German Tamara Korpach. The opponent was lower in the ranking – 120th position against 102nd for Andreeva. In face-to-face meetings, no one had an advantage: the girls had never met each other before.

Difficult conditions

The Wimbledon qualifying final was held in far from royal conditions. A secondary court with a small number of spectators, aircraft constantly buzzing somewhere nearby. You will not envy tennis players in such a situation: many do not like extraneous sounds during the serve. The young Russian woman was not always able to cope with distractions, and she periodically gave out double faults on the pitch.

However, the opponent was not too comfortable playing in such an environment. In the first set, Korpacz allowed our tennis player to win back three break points to the sound of a helicopter hurrying somewhere. In general, the starting segment of the match turned out to be stubborn: none of the contenders for a place in the main draw of the tournament did not want to concede. Everything was decided in the end, which was more successful for Mirra, winning with a score of 7:5.

Mirra Andreeva / Photo: © Tim Clayton – Corbis / Contributor / Corbis Sport / Gettyimages.com

In the second set, aviation calmed down, but the wind began to make adjustments. At some point, Andreeva was already leading 5:3, but then she herself began to give the game to her opponent. The Russian woman was nervous, asking herself rhetorical questions about tactics… As a result, the abundance of unforced errors led to the fact that the score in the match was evened.

It became alarming for the Russian woman, but in the third set she, continuing to give vent to her emotions from time to time, nevertheless began to achieve results again. In one of the episodes, Mirra almost slipped and shouted: “I hate this grass!” However, there was no noticeable resistance from the German in the third set. Andreeva confidently won with a score of 6:2 and reached the final part of Wimbledon, her first grass tournament in her career. It remains to be hoped that this herb will not prevent her from showing a cool result.