Teenage Prodigy Andreeva Describes Why She Is Sometimes Difficult To Work With
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Mirra Andreeva has praised her coach, Conchita Martinez, for doing a good job, admitting that she is not always easy to deal with.
Andreeva is one of the most talented young players to emerge on the WTA Tour in recent years. Coco Gauff, who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon at 15, might be the last player to be more talented than Andreeva at such a young age.
That means the 17-year-old's talent needs to be nurtured carefully. Many young stars in tennis and other sports never achieve their potential because they find the pressure too much.
Andreeva could be especially susceptible to those concerns since she is vola. The Russian often becomes very angry on-court and struggles to contain her emotions.
Former Wimbledon champion and world No. 2 Martinez was a great appointment as coach in April 2024, but it has emerged that the Spaniard was not her first choice. Before hiring her, she tried to hire two former world No. 1s.
Three-time Grand Slam runner-up Dinara Safina revealed last year that Andreeva and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka tried to hire her as coach. Sabalenka did this before the 2023 US Open, but Safina could not commit to the role.
Martina Hingis, who won five singles Grand Slams before turning 19, also admitted that Andreeva tried to hire her as a coach. The Swiss tennis legend declined because of the travel involved with being a coach.
Andreeva has started this season impressively. She progressed to the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International with an emphatic straight-sets victory against Linda Noskova, who defeated her in 2024.
The 17-year-old undoubtedly hopes to enjoy even more success than last season. A memorable moment from 2024 was reaching the WTA 500 final in Ningbo. Unfortunately for her, it ended in a heartbreaking loss to compatriot Daria Kasatkina.
Andreeva led 3-0 in the deciding set but could not get over the line. This caused Andreeva to burst into tears during the trophy ceremony, and Kasatkina rushed onto the podium to comfort her younger opponent.
In her press conference after beating Noskova in Brisbane, Andreeva acknowledged she can be difficult to work with and sometimes does things deliberately to annoy Martinez.
"I would say that I'm still a kid sometimes. I can get angry. If you said something that I don't like, I'm like, okay, well, I'm going to do something that she doesn't like as well. I try to piss her off."
"She's like, oh my god, what are you doing? We start laughing about it and then we forget about all that. I can just be a little pain in the ass sometimes. But she's doing good job so far. She's okay."
That is a refreshingly honest perspective from Andreeva. Not all young players would have the self-awareness to admit they can be difficult, which might help her mature quicker.
Andreeva's abilities are so exceptional that it seems only a matter of time before she makes a significant breakthrough, but that cannot be guaranteed.
