“This is your time”: Dinara Safina hails teen takeover at 2024 Australian Open

The next generation has arrived in record time at the 2024 Australian Open. Sixteen-year-olds Mirra Andreeva and Alina Korneeva not only made it into the women’s singles main draw a year after contesting the junior final, but the teens each triumphed in their respective debuts to reach the second round. The last time two 16-year-olds won matches at a major? In 2007—the year both Andreeva and Korneeva were born.

Watching the tournament unfold from her home in Monaco, former world No. 1 Dinara Safina is less surprised by the talented teen trio, which also includes Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova.

“Sometimes you start thinking there is no new generation, and then boom!” exclaims the 2009 Aussie Open finalist. ”You have one, two three, four all coming up, one behind the other. Once one girl from their age group starts having results, they all start to inspire each other.”

The best thing about being 16 is that you have no fear. You have no doubt. You just go out there and you play your best. You really don’t think about anything else. This is a fearlessness that, unfortunately, you will never have again! Dinara Safina

Andreeva was the first to break out last spring when she rode a minor-league ITF Pro Circuit winning streak onto the WTA tour and into the fourth round of the Mutua Madrid Open, scoring upsets over 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and seeded players Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette.

Korneeva, who defeated Andreeva in the 2023 Australian Open junior final, opted to continue competing in girl’s singles and picked up another major at Roland Garros before winning winning the biggest pro-level title of her career, an ITF 100K in Portugal, three months later.

“In the beginning, Andreeva came out in front, getting some wild cards and everyone was talking about her,” mused Safina, who praised their respective coaches, former ATP pro Jean-René Lisnard and Spartak Club alum Julia Bekeshchenko. “Korneeva had to do more on her own; she wasn’t getting the same number of wild cards, so she had to play qualies. In the end, they both made it to the same place.”

Though their paths briefly diverged, what Safina believes what they share is endemic to their age: fearlessness.

“The best thing about being 16 is that you have no fear,” says Safina, who made her Grand Slam debut as a 16-year-old in 2002. “You have no doubt. You just go out there and you play your best. You really don’t think about anything else.

“This is a fearlessness that, unfortunately, you will never have again!” she adds with a laugh.

“So, you have to enjoy it while it’s there and understand that this is your time, a time where everyone is scared of you because no one knows you, and on the other side, you’re not scared of anyone because you’re full of confidence.”

As fearlessness invariably fades, Safina, who has worked as a coach since officially retiring from tennis in 2014, implores young stars to focus on the future rather than try to recapture that halcyon past.

“In tennis, we always talk about what you’re going to do that next year, because in your first year on tour, you go out there and you’re eager because everything is new and you’re so excited,” she explains. “Think of when a young kid starts walking for the first time and is discovering the world around her. Everything she sees makes her go, ‘Wow, it’s unbelievable.’ The next day, she will see the same things and not be as excited because she has the experience already.

“It’s the same in tennis. You go on tour and experience all these firsts: Grand Slam qualifying, main draw, second week. Everything is new. The next year, you have the pressure of defending points on top of wishing for that fearless feeling you used to have. Don’t look for it. You will have new experiences and emotions, but never try to look back on how it was that first year. What ends up happening is that those that do start to make a lot of mistakes, or they’ll change coaches because they miss that feeling.

“Never look back, look for something new.”

In the meantime, all three youngsters are free to enjoy their still-exciting milestones. And, with each facing high seeds on Wednesday—Andreeva against No. 6 Ons Jabeur, Korneeva against No. 10 Haddad Maia, and Fruhvirtova against No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka—might they employ that inimitably fearless tennis to score some upsets in Melbourne Park?