At 18, Mirra Andreeva Is Ahead of the Curve, and Still Growing into her Game

With her victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Monday in Beijing, Mirra Andreeva continued her push to reach this year’s WTA Finals in Riyadh. 

Though she hasn’t won a title since her breathtaking triumph at Indian Wells, where she took out five Top 25 players, including world No.2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals and world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final, she’s still very much in the midst of a breakout season. 

Andreeva, who will turn 19 next April, was No.22 in the world in China last year. As she prepares for her round of 16 match with Sonay Kartal in Beijing this year, she’s No.5. A clear indication that she’s still very much on the rise.

When you win in such stunning fashion, at such a young age, pundits tend to get over their skis with projections. Are we looking at the next teenage Grand Slam champion? Andreeva admits that at times she has struggled with her own expectations this season. 

“I was putting pressure on myself,” she stressed to the media earlier this week in Beijing. “Like, it was not people from outside, it was more me. 

“I was also expecting more from myself. Now I’m kind of learning how to be nicer and kinder to myself, give myself some time, sometimes not really judge myself too hard and right away. I’m learning new things…”

She may have failed to measure up against the loftiest of expectations over the last few months, but make no mistake: Andreeva didn’t have a bad summer at all. She reached the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon, and also splashed in quarterfinal runs at Rome and Madrid. She may be platueauing a bit, but everything is still in place for the rising teen to make another step. 

Winning big titles in Dubai and Indian Wells heightened her profile and raised the bar when it comes to the public’s perception of her potential, but just because she hasn’t won a title since doesn’t mean that more aren’t coming. 

“I think I was playing not bad throughout the whole season,” she said. “Obviously I think I was on top of my game when I won those two tournaments.” 

She has set her sights on qualifying for the WTA Finals, and moves closer with every win in Beijing. 

“I’m trying to work on myself every day and improve,” she said. “I can say that I’ve improved a lot compared to the beginning of the year. There are a lot of shots and a lot of moments where I can say, like, this has improved 30 percent, 40 percent. I think that’s a good thing.

“We’re going to keep on improving ’cause I still want to play one last tournament this year, a very important one. I still need to win some matches, win some points. I hope that I can make it.”

If there is one big challenge for Andreeva, it is choosing a game style that can be both aggressive and intelligent. She is as crafty as they come on a tennis court, with a high tennis IQ and plus movement. At times she has relied on her wheels and her smarts too much, but she’s aware that fine-tuning her weapons so that she can go on the attack when the moment is right, will be the next step in her evolution. 

At the moment, that part of her game is still a work in progress. 

I felt like I was a little bit afraid to miss, maybe afraid to make some mistakes,” Andreeva said of her tennis over the last several months. “I tend to sometimes maybe take a step back and just put the ball back in the court, which now doesn’t really work with these great players.”