Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva won the main one on Wednesday moment of victory in her career – in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros she beat the second racket of the world, Arina Sabalenka from Belarus. Thanks to this success, the 17-year-old rising star of our sport will have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris!
Andreeva, who was ranked 38th in the world before the French Open, met seeded opponents for the second time at this Roland Garros. And both were from Belarus. In the second round, the Russian played a very difficult match against the tournament's 19th racket Victoria Azarenka, who was once at the top of the WTA classification and won the Grand Slam stages – and withstood the tension of the toughest confrontation, finishing it in the third set with a score of 7:5.
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“It is a very positive moment that Mirra won now, this match showed that she has practically become an adult,” said Shamil Tarpishchev, President of the Russian Tennis Federation, after Andreeva's match. – When she was quickly ascending, it was easy for her, like any young tennis player. There is nothing to be afraid of, “brakes” no, everyone was ranked higher than her. If you win something, it’s only a plus. It is much more difficult to develop to play when you have reached, say, a fifty-kopeck rating. And when you play, for example, with 60, the thought appears that you must win. Therefore, this match should give Andreeva self-confidence.”
When she was quickly ascending, it was easy for her, like any young tennis player. There was nothing to be afraid of, there were no “brakes”, everyone was ranked higher than her. If you win something, it’s only a plus. It is much more difficult to develop to play when you have reached, say, fifty dollars in the rating. And when you play, for example, with 60, the thought appears that you must win. Therefore, this match should give Andreeva self-confidence.”
The wise Shamil Anvyarovich looked into the water – however, nothing surprising, this happened probably hundreds of times during his leadership of both the Russian national teams and our entire tennis. Mirra, as if on a well-trodden track, moved further than two other rivals – American Peyton Stearns and ex-Russian Varvara Gracheva, now representing France.
But Sabalenka is far from Grachyov or even Azarenka. This is a tennis player with crazy hitting power and is now second only to Iga Swiatek in the rankings. For Andreeva, this was an even more serious test of “maturity” – because Arina, if the Russian had played for her like a junior, her young rival would have simply been swept off the court along with the Parisian red clay. The match would have ended before it even began.
And Andreeva passed this exam. Yes, it must be admitted that Sabalenka was clearly not at ease due to her malaise, which was the reason for the medical team coming to see her twice on the court. But even with a suffering opponent of this level, it was still necessary to cope – after all, the Belarusian, who showed in every possible way between rallies that she was feeling bad, abruptly joined the game and fired one cannon shot after another. And not only: when it was necessary, she ran, and cut, and shortened – in a word, she used the entire arsenal, thanks to which she is at the top of the world ranking.
But the Russian woman also showed on Wednesday that she will soon be there. Because the main thing that helped her beat Arina was the ability to endure and act according to the plan. Trying to break the pace, not giving the opponent easy balls – the latter, by the way, did not always work out, otherwise Andreeva would have heard the words “game, set, match” a little earlier. However, the winners are not judged – after all, 17-year-old Mirra has achieved the main success of her career so far, becoming the youngest semi-finalist of a Grand Slam tournament since 1997, when the Swiss miracle girl Martina Hingis conquered one major after another.
Now Russia has its own wonder girl – it’s just great that thanks to this victory she will rise in the world rankings to a high enough position to win a ticket to the Olympic Games in Paris. If the International Olympic Committee doesn’t suddenly screw up, of course, with the admission. But in the current state of affairs, Andreeva is among the four Russian tennis players who should get a place in the singles draw of the Olympic tournament. And judging by the fact that Mirra and Vera Zvonareva are successfully performing in duets at Roland Garros, it is quite possible that our young star will also play in doubles at the Games.
But Andreeva and her team will think about returning to Paris at the end of July later. Mirra still has things to do in the capital of France. She will meet Italian Jasmine Paolini in the semi-finals of Roland Garros and, of course, has a chance to go further. Of course, it would be too easy to say now that after Sabalenka, the 17-year-old Russian is not afraid of anyone, everyone can play in such tournaments. But why not get inspired by the same Hingis, who won three Grand Slam tournaments in the aforementioned 1997? And even surpass her in some ways. After all, the only “major” that Martina did not conquer was “Roland Garros”…
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