Mirra Andreeva admitted she feels like an ‘old woman’ as she approaches her 18th birthday (Image: Getty)
Aged just 17, Mirra Andreeva has already cemented herself as one of the tour’s best players. The Russian recently became the and cracked the top 10. Andreeva always had strong potential – she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old wildcard in Madrid.
After spending two years on the tour, Andreeva has already reached some significant career milestones. As she addressed her rise ahead of her Indian Wells campaign, the teenager joked that she felt like an “old woman”.
Andreeva is back in action at Indian Wells this week – her first tournament since the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. In Dubai, she defeated and Elena Rybakina en route to her biggest title.
The 17-year-old finds herself in an unusual position in the Californian tournament. Andreeva has never won a match in Indian Wells, playing the event just once before, but she is the No. 9 seed and received a bye directly into the second round.
Arriving as one of the top seeds and the tour’s latest WTA 1000 champion, Andreeva explained why she no longer felt like an up-and-comer despite being so young.
“I don’t know. You know, of course I’m going to be turning 18 soon, so, yes, I am becoming an old woman unfortunately,” she laughed.
Mirra Andreeva won the biggest title of her career in Dubai last month (Image: Getty)
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“So yeah. Well, I don’t know if I can be an up-and-comer, I have no idea. I don’t know.”
While Andreeva is already starting to feel like a veteran on the tour, the Russian is hoping that she is also becoming “older and smarter”.
And the world No. 11 has already shown her maturity in Indian Wells, as she explained that she wanted to forget about her victory in Dubai and focus on the tournament ahead.
“I like to think that what happened happened, and of course after my win in Dubai, it felt amazing. I felt a lot of adrenaline, and I was of course super happy to win the tournament,” Andreeva explained.
“But it’s been almost two weeks now, I think maybe even more, and now I have to prepare for this tournament, I have to show my best tennis here, as well.
“I’m going also try to win this tournament and do my best here. You know, we’re going to see what will happen.
“But now I like to put Dubai not in the past but, you know, to kind of move on a little bit, because it’s already happened, and we have to still prepare for next matches and next tournaments.”
Andreeva will face Varvara Gracheva in her opening singles match as she seeks her first win in Indian Wells.