French Open: ‘I want to win 25, if possible’, says 16-year-old Andreeva Mirra
16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, passing victory at the ongoing French Open, is aiming to win 25 Grand Slam titles going forward.
New Delhi: The 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who is amassing an ever-growing fan base with each passing victory at the ongoing French Open, is aiming to win 25 Grand Slam titles going forward.
The youngest player to reach the third round in Paris since 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva reached the 2005 quarterfinals, Andreeva won her fifth match in straight sets on Thursday (through qualifying and main draw), downing French hope Diane Parry to set a clash with sixth seed American Coco Gauff.
“I know that Djokovic did 22 Grand Slams or 23, so I want to go until 25 if it will be possible. I don’t know. But I will just play,” Andreeva was quoted by Roland Garros website.
“For now my goal is to win match by match, to win the next match,” she added.
Andreeva also revealed her dream opponent at the clay-court major, saying that she wants to face Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who finished as the runners-up in the Wimbledon and US Open last year.
“I would like to play Ons Jabeur because I like the way she plays, and I think our game is quite, let’s say, similar. So I would like to play her competing in just the third tour-level main draw of her career,” she said.
That match-up could not play out at Roland-Garros until the semifinals this fortnight but if both continue on their winning ways, it is not beyond the realms of possibility.
The teenager reiterated her coach’s key advice of “to stay humble all the time” in dealing with sudden success at a young age.
“As my coach says, to not be like a diva, like to stay humble all the time. Even though I don’t think that I have a lot of success now, you know. I didn’t win any tournaments. I just play. It’s the third round of Roland-Garros I will play,” Andreeva said.
Andreeva is competing in just the third tour-level main draw of her career following Monastir 2022 and Madrid 2023, where she reached the last 16.
She has not dropped a set in five matches so far in Paris and has lost only six games in two main-draw contests. Her 2023 pro record now stands at 22-2. Andreeva now has six wins against Top 100 players this season.
Ms Kalinga