LONDON: Mirra Andreeva declared she has got her confidence back thanks to the help of her mentor Conchita Martinez after reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon.
The seventh seed moved into the fourth round at SW19 on Saturday after a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3, win over Hailey Baptiste. Andreeva has already won 10 Grand Slam matches this season which makes her the youngest person to achieve this since Caroline Wozniacki in 2008. She is also the fourth woman this century to make the fourth round of every major before their 19th birthday.
Andreeva’s Wimbledon run comes after a lackluster start to the grass swing this season. Coming into the Grand Slam, she had won just one out of three matches played across two tournaments in Germany. Nevertheless, she has turned her fortunes around thanks to support from coach Martinez, who won the Wimbledon title in 1994.
“She gave me more confidence because when I arrived in London after my loss in Bad Homburg, and also after my loss in Berlin, I didn’t feel super great and super confident with the way I played,” Andreeva explains.
“We had a couple of practices. We really focused on trying to hit a lot of balls and to fix my movement on grass, as well.
“The first thing she brought back to me is my confidence. Also step-by-step I feel like I’m improving my movement on the grass, as well.
“I feel like with every match I play, we kind of do the analysis. Afterwards I feel better and better and more confident in my game.”
Martinez, who has also worked with Garbine Mugurza and Karolina Pliskova in the past, has been a regular fixture in the Russian’s team since 2024. Under her guidance, Andreeva has won a trio of titles with two of those being at WTA 1000 events. She also cracked the top 10 earlier this season.
Andreeva is one of just four top 10 seeds to have made it through to the fourth round at Wimbledon. Ironically, one of those other seeded players, Emma Navarro, will be her opponent in the next round.
“It’s not nice to see a lot of top players lose in the first and second rounds. But it’s tennis. Sometimes it can happen,” she said.
“There’s nothing you can do about it. I was just trying to focus on myself. I didn’t have a thought that this is maybe a curse or something, that it can go after me.
“That’s what I’m going to focus on until the end of the tournament. I’m just going to try and be the best version of myself every match I play.”
Andreeva has won 35 matches so far this season which is joint with Jessica pegula. The only players to have won more are Aryna Sabalenka (44) and Iga Swiatek (38).
