Mirra Andreeva: How to become a Grand Slam semifinalist at 17

Many of you saw 17-year old Mirra Andreeva’s sensational upset of WTA No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. Not only had Sabalenka been undefeated in Grand Slam competition this year, she had yet to lose a single set.

Andreeva, the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist since Martina Hingis at the 1997 US Open, accomplished that seemingly impossible mission with surprising aplomb. She’s an agile, willowy, 5’9” righthander who can already crack her serve, and marries excellent firepower with the ability to play great defense.

Here’s a guide to how you, too, can become a Grand Slam semifinalist before you’re old enough to vote.

Forget your game plan

Sure, you pay coaches a lot of money. It looks impressive to viewers when they show your famous coach in the guest box (in Andreeva’s case, that would currently be former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez). But, as Andreeva said:

“I would say that I always play the way I want to play. We have a plan with my coach for the match, but after, I forget everything. When I play a match I don't have any thoughts in my head. So maybe I would say that my strength could be that I just play how I want to play. I do whatever I want to do, and maybe this helps me when I play.”

Send your mother out of the stadium when the match gets tense

Andreeva’s mother Raisa is quite a Chatty Cathy, but at a critical moment in the second set, the 17-year-old strolled over toward the guest box and made a somewhat clandestine but dismissive hand gesture, as if shooing away a pesky fly. Her mother promptly got up and left the stadium, after which Andreeva seemed to settle down and play well. No word on where mom went, or if she’s come back.

Watch tennis until your eyes are ready to fall out of your face

It’s odd how so many good players like to deny that they watch much tennis (or read about it online). Not this little assassin. She said:

“I watch a lot of tennis. For example, when I played against Vika, we finished at 2:00 a.m. I got to the hotel room at 3:00, and I still saw some reels on Instagram about tennis, I was like ‘Who is winning, who won, who lost?’ I don't think there was a day without tennis for me since I started playing, so yeah, I can say that I always watch some tennis.”

For heaven’s sake, no last-minute decisions

A curious journalist asked Andreeva if she plays by “feel,” point-by-point or even shot-by-shot. She said:

“I would say shot to shot. So when, for example, she plays a forehand crosscourt, I have time to see where she’s standing, where she kind of waits for my ball to go, and then I decide, well, what should I do? Should I go down the line or should I do cross, should I do a dropshot, should I do a lob? That's sometimes not really good because I have a lot of decisions in my mind. When I change them in the last moment, some kind of crap always happens. It plays a bad joke with me.”

Dare to dream

Don’t be frightened or intimidated by your dreams—so long as they don’t feature a knife-wielding doll-turned-human or some dude in a hockey mask, holding aloft a chainsaw. But good tennis dreams? Meet them with open arms, even if they seem unrealistic/

“I would say that I didn’t really expect me to be playing semifinals tomorrow. I played [Varvara] Gracheva a few days ago, and I was, like, ‘If I win the match I will be in quarterfinals. But then, if I play Sabalenka and win I can be in semifinals. Wow, that could be a dream.’

“[Now] I’m actually playing as semifinal tomorrow, and so my thoughts kind of came true. If we look back, I wouldn’t expect myself playing semifinals, because that was just kind of a dream for me in the beginning of the tournament, but now I will be playing semifinals.”

(Hope you got that.)

Get over the losses, no matter how heartbreaking

Andreeva lost the Australian Open junior singles title in 2023 in an excruciatingly close three-set battle with Alina Korneeva. When asked about it, she said:

“If we look back to that match, that was very tough. I thought that I will need a lot of time to recover. [But] after, I just kind of forgot about it, because my coach at that time told me, ‘Well, maybe—not maybe—but when you are winning a lot of Slams, you will not even remember when you lost the Australian Open singles juniors final, or to who you lost.’”

Korneeva is currently ranked No. 159, Andreeva is No. 38.

And, of course, save a ladybug any chance you get

In the final game of the match, Sabalenka serving with a 30-15 lead to level the sore at 5-5, Andreeva spotted a ladybug on her own end of the court, near the baseline. Not wishing to squish it underfoot, she delicately carried it out of harm’s way at the back of the court. In some cultures, a ladybug is an omen of good luck. In a matter of minutes, Andreeva won the match.

“I saw a ladybug on the floor, on the clay. I was, like, ‘Well, I have to save it. I picked it up. Yeah, after I just tried not to think about that, but I was, like, ‘Hmm, this could be a sign.’ [But] I honestly tried not to think about that. I tried to stay in the game, stay focused, and not to wait for her mistakes, to try to finish everything by myself. But maybe this was a little sign, as I won the game and the match, so that was a nice moment for me.”

So there you have it. Any questions?