at 16 years old (and 26 days old), the Russian Mirra Andreeva has almost everything a great – Liberation

In the third round of the Parisian Grand Slam for his first participation, the Russian teenager was opposed to the American Coco Gauff this Saturday, June 3. She has been amazing since her sensational entry into the pros two months ago.

Blonde hair and youthful boils, Mirra Andreeva does not look like a tennis monster in the making. But under his white visor, the 16-year-old Russian teenager is already positioning himself as the sensation of the French Open. In a sport known for having seen phenomena of precocity, Mirra Andreeva is progressing in passing times worthy of the greatest.

Her duel this Saturday, June 3 on the Suzanne-Lenglen court against the American Coco Gauff, another player who broke through early, perhaps prefigured one of the future great rivalries of the women’s circuit. The duel of the day turned to the advantage of the American. Finalist at Roland-Garros last year, Coco Gauff is already well established in the world decor, at 19 years old. Mirra Andreeva, she has barely arrived but already sees very far. “I dream of winning 25 Grand Slams!” she proclaimed on Thursday.

At 16 years and 26 days, she became the youngest player to qualify for Roland-Garros since Amélie Mauresmo in 1995 (then aged 15 years and 10 months). For her Grand Slam debut, she did more than impress: two quick victories against the top ranked Alison Riske and the French Diane Parry, six games conceded in total, becoming at the same time the youngest player to win a Porte match. d’Auteuil since 2005.

Her access to the third round put her in the top 100 (97th). “Me, at that age, I was probably not even in the top 300 juniors”, compares his compatriot Daniil Medvedev. Yet fourteen months ago, Andreeva was not even ranked. At the start of the year, she was still only the 341st best player in the world.

It was before a most fruitful start to 2023. A first stroke of brilliance this winter: three consecutive finals in juniors, including that of the Australian Open. Then a hair-raising foray into the pros: sixteen consecutive victories, including three at the Masters 1000 in Madrid. With victims of choice: a top 50, the Canadian Leylah Fernandez (38th), and two top 20, the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (14th) and the Polish Magda Linette (19th). And each time in two sets.

From Marat Safin to Andy Murray

If Mirra Andreeva is at Roland this year, it is also, in part, thanks to former Russian glory Marat Safin. When the former world number one won the Australian Open in 2005, Raisa Andreeva, Mirra’s mother, was watching TV. The prowess of the “tsar” Safin makes her addicted to tennis, and she gets it into her head that her future children will play it. Until she was six, Mirra Andreeva accompanied her sister Erika to training and observed her on match days. At eight years old, she took the plane for her first international race, an under-12 competition in Germany.

Due to the lack of structures dedicated to tennis worthy of the name in their native region, the family left Siberia for a first stop in Sochi, on the shores of the Black Sea, before hesitating on what to do next. Nadal’s academy in Mallorca reaches out to her, but she has also heard of Jean-René Lisnard’s Elite Tennis Center in Cannes. The structure shaped Daniil Medvedev, current world number 2, and today forms a strong contingent of Russian hopefuls, including Varvara Gracheva.

Installed for a year and a half on the Côte d’Azur, Mirra Andreeva refines her shots and refines her game, which she compares to that of the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (7th). A metronome from the baseline, tenacious in long rallies, she is not a risky player. Before each match, she takes note of the instructions given by her coaching duo, Jean-René Lisnard and Jean-Christophe Faurel. But once on the court… she doesn’t apply them. To put it another way, she plays by feeling. “If I feel like I have to bunt, even if the score is not really appropriate to bunt, I will do it anyway. I do not know how to explain it”, says the Russian. She has room for improvement “enormous”confides Benjamin Vaiarello, her physical trainer since her arrival at the center, especially since she has not “not at all finished growing” nor to develop his power.

His career barely started, his entourage is careful not to rush anything. When she’s not thinking about tennis, the Siberian has to take online lessons. Matheuse, gifted in English, she confesses shortcomings in chemistry. “I’m so bad. I do not understand”, she laughs. By her own admission, she does not have the academic fiber and prefers “watching TV series rather than doing [m]homework”or even surf in search of the latest Nike outfits.

Unfathomable when she plays, she appears affable off the court, natural and therefore at ease in the media exercise, especially since she is spared questions about the war in Ukraine for the moment. Benjamin Vaiarello talks about a “radiant girl”: “She has the innocence of a child who seems to be eating life to the fullest and does not ask questions.” Like when she decides to text Andy Murray, of whom she is a fan, to congratulate the Briton at the three Majors after a victory a few days earlier. The adopted Cannes girl smiles: “He said to me ‘Thank you and good luck at Roland-Garros’. Maybe that’s why I’m playing so well right now.”

Update at 4:15 p.m. with the defeat against Gauff.