The first racket of Russia, Mirra Andreeva, is now going through a difficult period in her career. The 18-year-old athlete is experiencing certain problems, including emotional ones.

The next tournament ended for Mirra with elimination at an early stage. And as the match progressed, the Russian woman naturally roared and suffered.

My heart just bleeds!

“It’s okay to lose”

Andreeva came to the “thousandth” in Wuhan after a sensational defeat in Beijing from the British Sonay Kartal. The British representative played the match of her life against the best Russian tennis player. Mirra did not hide the fact that she was very upset.

“Obviously, losing isn’t easy, and I don’t think a lot of people like losing.” When I look back at my season, I realized that it was off to a good start. But it’s impossible to win every match you play. It is impossible to win every tournament you participate in. Losing is normal,” Andreeva said at a press conference before the start of the tournament in Wuhan.

Andreeva’s first rival was 37-year-old Laura Siegemund. The experienced tennis player is experiencing her second youth this season. So, at Wimbledon she made it to the quarterfinals, which allowed her to return to the top hundred of the rankings. In the first round in Wuhan, Laura, famous for her excellent physical fitness, knocked out the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, who refused to fight in the third set.

Mirra Andreeva / Photo: © Wang He / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Rivers of Russian tears

The girls had a chaotic start, never breaking their serve in the first four games. Moreover, in the very first game, Mirra made three double faults on her serve. The Russian was able to stabilize her serve only towards the end of the sixth game, when the German was one step away from the third break in a row. Albeit with nerves, Andreeva was able to equalize the score, winning back from 15:40.

It seemed that in the second half of the set our tennis player was able to adapt to the aggressive tennis of the German woman. In the ninth game, Mirra confidently made a break, provoking her opponent to make mistakes in attack, and took the lead with a score of 5:4. But in the next game she lost the advantage, allowing her opponent to equalize the score.

By and large, nothing terrible happened, but Mirra took it too emotionally. She turned her face to the billboards and burst into tears. Throughout the next game, Andreeva could not calm down. Tears literally flowed in a stream after each unsuccessful draw. It’s good that, in conditions of an emotional breakdown, our tennis player was able to take the game in a tiebreak – 7:6 (7:4).

Local success, unfortunately, did not lead to progress in Andreeva’s game. The beginning of the second set was marked by a missed serve in the first game. Mirra continued to suffer on the court and cry. This happened even when the German woman was serving, which had a bad effect on the score – 0:2. Mirra miraculously equalized the score, but already in the fifth game Siegemund made another break, forcing the Russian woman to throw her racket. The ending went to the German, who made fewer unforced errors and took the game with a score of 6:3.

Laura Siegemund / Photo: © Wang He / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Events also developed dramatically in the decisive period. With the score 0:2, Andreeva was unable to convert four break points. She came out to serve, wiping away tears. Only in the fourth game did Mirra break the score in the game, and it wasn’t without some luck. The German woman, who had the initiative, made a lot of mistakes. But this did not at all affect the further course of the match. Laura calmly won the decisive game with a score of 6:3.

Mirra has always been an emotional tennis player, but what was happening in Wuhan went beyond the limits of adequacy. The world of tennis has never seen so many tears from a Russian. Andreeva definitely needs to recover emotionally from her painful defeat. It is obvious that by the end of the season our best tennis player had practically no strength left.