LONDON: If playing for a place in your first Grand Slam quarter-final wasn’t nervous enough, Mirra Andreea said she felt extra heat due to a special guest sitting in the royal box.
The 18-year-old Russian eased to a 6-2, 6-3, win over America’s Emma Navarro to move into the last eight at The All England Club. Making her the youngest player to do so since Nicole Vaidisova in 2007. Despite her young age, Andreeva has already recorded 26 Grand Slam main draw wins, with seven of those being at Wimbledon.
Playing on Centre Court for the first time, Andreeva played her latest match in front of one of her idols, Roger Federer. The seven-time champion attended the tournament on Monday along with his wife Mirka.
“It is something crazy. I was so nervous playing on Centre Court for the first time,” she said.
“I tried not to look at the Royal Box. I saw Roger [Federer] and it means a lot that you came and watched my match. I am so happy I managed to stay focused.”
Earlier in the tournament, the youngster named Federer as one of the people who have the greatest insight and knowledge of the game. The Swiss Maestro won 1251 matches during his career, claiming 103 ATP trophies.
“I felt like every time I watched him, he just knows what to do at every score, in every situation that’s going on the court,” Andreeva commented.
“He was handling the pressure moments, he was facing break points… when he was down in the score, his face didn’t change. Never. I felt like this was super hard to play against. When you see that you’re winning and everything is going your way, and you look at your opponent and it’s like nothing happened.. he’s just continuing playing the same way and raising his level.”
After beating Navarro, Andreeva has 10 wins over top 10 players in her career, with six of those victories taking place since January. To put this into perspective, the only players to have achieved more of these wins than her in 2025 are ranked in the world’s top three.
A part of her success has been coach Concita Martinez, who played a key role in her latest victory.
“Conchita gave me some good advice, as it keeps being so effective. I am happy with the level I presented myself on the court today,” she said.
“I was more nervous than usual and that’s why I made some mistakes that I don’t usually make. I took it point by point and I am happy with how I carried myself.”
Andreeva will next play Belinda Bencic.
