For her first match at this stage of a Grand Slam tournament, the 16-year-old Russian player lost on Monday to American Madison Keys, after picking up a penalty point late in the game for a gesture of humor.
Last set, 2-5, advantage on his service game. Mirra Andreeva loses the point, slips at the end of the run, her arm goes up and her racquet hits the ground. Some would say it got away from him, but the chair umpire disagrees. Point of penalty and therefore match point for Madison Keys, who does not need to be asked to convert it. Irritated, the Russian sends courtesies to her opponent and passes in front of the referee without shaking his hand.
The first round of 16 Grand Slam of the 16-year-old prodigy will leave a bitter taste. Overthrown in three sets (3-6, 7-6, 6-2), after leading 6-3, 4-1, Mirra Andreeva again showed that behind this angelic face hides a strong character. Already at Roland-Garros, on the occasion of her very first Grand Slam tournament, she let out her frustration after losing the thread against the American Coco Gauff in the third round. Also beaten in three sets after winning the first set, she had to apologize after throwing a ball into the audience and touching a spectator.
The referee “did not make the right decision”
Although she acknowledged “a really stupid move” at Roland-Garros, she disputed the warning received at Wimbledon. “For me, it’s a contentious point and she didn’t make the right decision. But she’s the referee and she’s the one making the decision. Honestly, I didn’t intend to throw the racket. I slipped. I thought I was going to fall forward. Maybe I looked like I was throwing the racket. I don’t know. Now it’s over. And that’s why I didn’t want to shake his hand”, justified the 102nd player in the world in front of the journalists.
“It doesn’t shock me, supports her Jean-René Lisnard, her trainer at the Elite Tennis Center in Cannes. As a player, it happened to me not to shake hands with the referee either. And today the referee was not good at all, we can say that. We respect the decision. You put a warning at the end of the set, okay, but then, on a gesture of humor like this…” The young player, who appeared on the WTA professional circuit at the start of the year, should she do mental work in order to better manage this type of behavior on the court? Not for his trainer. “You need a bit of temper. John McEnroe is an idol and yet he has never shaken hands with a referee”.
Entry into the top 100
“[Ce désaccord] didn’t change anything. She had lost the match long before in the third set., adds Jean-René Lisnard. The latter especially remembers the progress of his protege who will enter the world Top 100, in 64th place, at the end of Wimbledon. After her start to the year with a bang, with two titles on clay (in Chiasso and Bellinzona in Switzerland), a quarter-final in Madrid, a third round at Roland-Garros after coming out of qualifying, she can already boast of having reached the second week at Wimbledon (when she had never played any official match on this surface).
If a few mental cracks have been revealed over the past two months, the trajectory remains upward. Anonymous on the main circuit before the spring, she is now one of the most feared opponents on the court. To continue its momentum, it will then have to “keep a good state of mind, with freshness and maturity”, warns his coach. Above all, that she “will soon be expected as the favourite. At the start, you are an outsider, you have nothing to lose. And suddenly, you pass into the skin of the favorite, it changes. You have to learn to manage that. But this are good problems”.