Former ATP World No. 1 player Andy Roddick thinks that Mirra Andreeva will reach the World No. 1 spot on the WTA Tour.
Andreeva is the first teenage phenom on the WTA Tour since Coco Gauff. The American player is still only 20, but she broke through at 15. Andreeva broke through at the same age, and since then, she's made her mark.
The Russian player is now a WTA 1000 champion, and she managed to do that even faster than Gauff, who is now a Grand Slam champion.
The 17-year-old won the Dubai Championships, becoming the youngest player to ever win a WTA 1000 tournament. It was a sensational win, especially because she beat the likes of Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina on her way to the title.
The whole tennis world was impressed, and so was Andy Roddick. He spoke about Andreeva during an episode of his Served with Andy Roddick podcast. According to the former American player, Andreeva will become the World No. 1 at some point in her career.
"Mirra Andreeva is going to be number one in the world at some point. I watched her more this week continuously – because normally it’s in a Slam. But she serves so much better than people give her credit for, and it’s only going to get better."
Roddick admitted that he had some doubts about Andreeva, especially when it came to her physicality. However, she was able to prove him wrong with wins over Swiatek and Rybakina.
"What I worried about was that she is not one of the physical phenom specimens of a [Jennifer] Capriati or a [Lindsay] Davenport or a Venus [Williams] or a Serena [Williams]. The one I can think of who is a phenom not in the too distant past is [Martina] Hingis, who then got overpowered."
"So Andreeva, is she going to be able to create enough pace to not get overpowered by [Aryna] Sabalenka or Swiatek? She has beaten both of them."
Roddick couldn't find enough words to praise Andreeva and how well she's able to play. He also praised the Russian's coach, Conchita Martinez, who has done a great job guiding the teenager.
"She is an elite mover already, she creates enough pace and what I am going to talk about that nobody does. Her ability to play against people’s movement makes her shots bigger. She doesn’t have to go big to go through you."
"Her preparation is good enough where she can pull the ripcord and play behind the women that she’s playing against consistently. And if the rally builds she can stay in it and tee up. She has options. IQ beyond her years – Conchita Martinez has done an amazing job guiding the ship. But she serves great."
"I was watching her and thinking why is nobody talking about this? Maybe it is like it can improve things and she has 30% runway in physicality, she is going to get bigger, stronger and faster. It’s not as if it is going to go the other way."
