Mirra Andreeva admits controlling her emotions on the court continues to be a work in progress after losing her fourth round match at Wimbledon on Monday.
Andreeva, who turned 16 less than three months ago, was on the verge of reaching her first-ever Grand Slam quarter-final. Taking on 25th seed Madison Keys, she clinched the first set and then opened up a 4-1 lead in the second. However, she was unable to close the match out as Keys battled back to win 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2. To add to her frustration, in the decider she dropped her opening serve and had an opportunity to break back a couple of games later but couldn’t convert.
“She played well,” Andreeva said of Keys. “I cannot say that I did something wrong. I was just playing. That’s why I think she won because she played better than me today.”
Towards the end of the match controversy happened when she was slammed with a point penalty at 2-5, 40-40, for throwing her racket. That was the second warning she received which automatically led to the penalty. After the match, she refused to shake hands with the umpire.
“Do you understand what you are doing? I didn’t throw the racket. I slid. It’s the wrong decision. I slid and then I fell.” She complained to the umpire.
Andreeva later reiterated her stance on the matter during her press conference. After conceding her first warning was one she deserves, she maintains that the second was a mistake from the umpire.
“It’s a controversial point because I don’t know which decision was right. She’s the umpire. She’s the one who makes the decision,” she commented.
“I didn’t have any intention to throw the racquet. I slid and I thought that I would fall forward.’
“Maybe it did look like I threw the racquet. I don’t know. I haven’t seen any videos yet. But that was her decision to make.”
After her previous match, the Russian said she was working on how to control her emotions on the court. Although this will take time due to her age and inexperience on the Tour. In the past plenty of other top names have gone through similar experiences with one notable example being that of Roger Federer.
“Actually when I was younger, I saw that he was also struggling. I’m not the only one who also struggles,” she said of the Swiss tennis player.
“I thought that I just need to wait a little bit and it will go away. But it doesn’t work like this. You just have to work on yourself. The faster you’ll do it, then the results will come faster.”
There are plenty of positives that Adreeva can draw from Wimbledon where she came through qualifying to reach the last 16 on her debut. This is only her fourth Tour-level tournament after Monastir, Madrid and Roland Garros. She will break into the top 100 next week for the first time and will be the youngest player in that group.
Meanwhile, Keys paid tribute to the rising star before admitting that she felt under pressure playing against her. The American knows all too well what it is like to be in the media spotlight at a young age after winning her first WTA match at the age of 14 and making her Grand Slam debut at 16.
“I knew she’s a phenomenal player so I knew I had to stay in the match and try to get an opportunity to break back,” said Keys.
“I just tried to keep the momentum and keep going and here we are.’
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t [feeling pressure]. You don’t want to be the person who loses to her for her to get to her first quarters.” She added.
Keys will play either Aryna Sabalenka or Ekaterina Alexandrova in the next round. It will be the first Wimbledon quarter-final she has played since 2015.
As for Andreeva, she will take a mini break from the sport before returning to action at the Lausanne Open.
