Teenage Phenom Andreeva Nominated In ITF Class Of 2023

| by Nurein Ahmed

The precociously talented Mirra Andreeva was recently honored for her remarkable rise by being nominated in the ITF Class of 2023.

This distinction is meant to recognize and celebrate the players who made a lasting imprint on the ITF World Tennis Tour during the season and are destined to achieve even bigger and better things in the upcoming season.

Andreeva was nominated alongside compatriot Alina Korneeva (who defeated her in the 2023 Australian Open Junior girl's final), Roland Garros boy's singles champion Dino Prizmic, 19-year-old Henrique Rocha, and Marina Stakusic, who was part of the Canada team that won the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup.

The ITF Tour is the structured pathway in which young tennis players can fast-track their progress into becoming professionals. There, they can compete in entry-level tournaments, earn ranking points and gain experience.

Andreeva Among Three Teenagers Nominated For WTA Newcomer Of The Year Award
Andreeva Among Three Teenagers Nominated For WTA Newcomer Of The Year Award

There has not been another 16-year-old this season who turned heads like Andreeva. The Russian prodigy made waves when she graduated from the ITF territory and ended up playing full-time in the top tier of women's tennis.

Her exponential rise was seismic to the extent that she got the attention of the Break Point crew filming the latest season of the tennis docuseries on Netflix during her eye-catching run to the fourth round of Wimbledon. Andreeva was the biggest mover in the yea-end Top 100 rankings on the WTA.

Having begun the 2023 season ranked outside the Top 300 spots, she vaulted to inside the world's Top 50 by the season's end. On two occasions, she defeated some established players on tour, including 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.

As she embarks on her first full season on the WTA tour, Andreeva hasn't forgotten her humble beginnings when she spoke on the impact the ITF World Tennis Tour has had on her career.

"For me, every stage of my development in tennis is important. Each period gives me something to address further. About the ITF World Tennis Tour, I can say there are a lot of players with different rankings and different levels of game. For example, the ranking of a player could be 800 or it could be 300 or 100, and all of them can play the same tournament."

"Perhaps when you play a player with a lower ranking, you can focus too much on the ranking during the match, and that is why the ITF World Tennis Tour helped me not to look so much at my opponent’s ranking."

"It is important to always give my best effort. It doesn’t matter who you play or where you play. I feel that my tennis level has developed with that mindset."

16-Year-Old Prodigy Andreeva Makes Biggest Rankings Jump In WTA's Top 100 In 2023
16-Year-Old Prodigy Andreeva Makes Biggest Rankings Jump In WTA's Top 100 In 2023

Read the full article

Just in

Look at more articles