Mirra Andreeva is disrupting tennis at just 17-years-old
The tennis prodigy transformed into a champion when she won the Dubai Open in February and in the process broke the records of the stars that came before her.
When Andreeva beat Clara Tauson 7-6, (7-6) 6-1 her victory catapulted her into the top 10 of tennis.
Her championship in Dubai also made her the youngest player ever to claim a WTA 1000 title.
The feat becomes even more stunning given the Russian beat Grand Slam winners Marketa Vondrousova, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina on her way to the trophy.
“I’d set a goal for myself to be in top 10 by the end of the year,” Andreeva said.
“This is something I dreamt of and now my dream came true so I’m just, I’m speechless right now.”
Andreeva is in the top 10 with ten months to spare and is the first teenager to be that highly ranked since Nicole Vaidisova back in 2007.
The 17-year-old is also just the sixth teenager to win a WTA 1000 title joining Coco Gauff, Swiatek, Bianca Andreescu, Belinda Bencic, and Victoria Azarenka.
When it comes to winning the Dubai Open, you have to go back more than 19 years to find a teen winner, back when Rafael Nadal won the title in 2006.
The championship wasn’t a fluke either, it was the culmination of a steady rise for Andreeva, who turned pro at just 15 in 2022.
The Russian has already appeared in eight Grand Slams main draws and reached the semi-finals of the French Open last year.
Andreeva has also become the player with the most main draw wins in WTA-1000 events before turning 18 with 18 wins, overtaking Gauff who had 17.
As a result of her early success, it’s no shock that Andreeva is tipped to achieve even more in tennis as she gets older.
Andy Roddick, a US Open champion and former world No.1 at just 21, has labeled Andreev as a future world number one.
Speaking on his podcast, Served with Andy Rodick, the American had big praise for Andreeva’s serve and drew comparisons to 25-time Grand Slam winner Martina Hingis.
“Mirra Andreeva is going to be number one in the world at some point,” said Roddick.
“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.
“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.”
After winning the biggest title of her career, Andreeva will head into Indian Wells as a top ten seed for the first time.
The Russian will also likely achieve even further success in the rankings as heading into the sunshine double, she only has 10 points to defend.