Mirra Andreeva is the 16-year-old ‘anti-diva’ who is two wins from becoming a tennis millionaire… she’s a Netflix star, obsessed with Andy Murray and is taking the Australian Open by storm (but still has to do her homework!)
Despite earning £198,000 for reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park and picking up two wins after becoming the latest tennis millionaire, it doesn’t take long for 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva to get her feet back on the ground. Her homework needs to be done.
“I still don’t like chemistry,” Andreeva said after being Ons Jabeur in round two. ‘I still have a lot of school to do.
“It actually started two days ago, so I have to do it.”
The young Russian, who has earned more than £820,000 in career earnings to date and is set to become a tennis millionaire with two more wins in Melbourne, can be unintentionally funny when she speaks to the media.
Her command of English is excellent – more than five years of tutoring has paid off – and, surprisingly, she has become a darling for tennis fans.
In reality, Andreeva’s last run seemed like a Slam a few hours ago. After sharing a 6-1 set with Diane Parry, Andreeva was in tears when trailing 5-1 in the third. It seemed to be over and the match commentator doubted her mental strength.
The youngster who, together with her sister Erika, fulfills her mother’s dream of raising a tennis player had to dig deeper than ever before.
Mirra Andreeva wants to go further than ever before at a Grand Slam event
The cheerful teen, pictured next to her older sister Erika, keeps her feet on the ground
She roared into the fourth round of the Australian Open with the most unlikely comeback
But the Siberian-born teenage sensation simply refuses to quit – it’s not in her DNA – and she produced one of the most heroic comebacks, becoming only the fourth player in the past 30 years to reach the fourth round of women’s singles before turning 17 . at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open (Martina Hingis, Tatiana Golovin and Coco Gauff).
It’s ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova next.
Fans were glued to their screens for the most unlikely comeback and yet one in particular, her idol Andy Murray, made her shine more than most.
“To be honest, I didn’t really think he would be watching a game and after he tweeted he would say something,” she said.
Before Andreeva went to her press conference, Murray posted on X: “Andreeva is down 5-1 in third place. Commentator ‘she really needs to work on the mental side of her game… she’s too hard on herself when she loses’ 30 minutes later Andreeva wins 7-6.
“Maybe the reason she turned the game around is because of her mental strength. Maybe she turned the game around because she’s hard on herself and demands more from herself when she loses/plays poorly? Winner.’
“Honestly, I’ll try to print it out somehow. I don’t know, I’ll put it in a list,” said a cheerful Andreeva.
‘I take it everywhere. Maybe I’ll hang it on the wall so I can see it every day.’
Andy Murray jumped to the teenager’s defense on social media after she was criticized by a commentator, who questioned the ‘mental side of her game’ as she trailed 5-1 in the final set
Murray and Andreeva have built a strong bond after it became known that the Brit is his idol
Andreeva is charming and mature beyond her years, which has made her a hit with Australian fans
For a while, Andreeva was too nervous to even go up and talk to Murray.
“I met Andy Murray here,” she said after her second-round victory over Barbora Krejčíková at Wimbledon last summer.
‘But I’m too shy to talk to him. When I see him, I try to leave the institution super quickly so as not to talk to him, because I’m super shy!’
Now he is considered one of her greatest defenders and champions. Funny how things work out.
Andreeva is from Krasnoyarsk, a city on the Yenisei River in Siberia, but moved to Sochi in an attempt to boost her tennis training after her mother pushed her and her sister to take it much more seriously, before later moving to Cannes.
It is said that her mother, Raisa, fell in love with tennis after watching Russian ace Marat Safin win the 2005 Australian Open. From there, the dream was born that her children would become tennis stars.
Andreeva is happy that she is “still a kid” and can relax while watching Netflix – just like any other 16-year-old girl, she insists.
‘I do everything the girls my age do. I like watching certain series. I have to do my school. I have no choice. I have to suffer for two more years and that’s it,” she joked.
‘When I have free time, sometimes I prefer to be alone, it depends on my mood.
“But I usually watch Netflix if I’m honest.”
Andreeva has switched to an online Russian school in an attempt to better combine it with tennis
Her older sister Erika (right) is also a professional player, and their mother fell in love with the sport after watching her compatriot Marat Safin win the Australian Open in 2005
She grew up in Siberia, but her mother soon moved, first to Sochi and then to Cannes, to play tennis
Asked about her latest win over Parry, where she received a standing ovation for her determination to turn the match around, Andreeva was quick to dismiss the idea that she is not a normal teenager.
What she has done so far, reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam again and claiming a prize of almost £200,000, is normal, she claims.
‘I don’t think it’s a big deal. I mean, fourth round, yeah, I’m 16, maybe it’s a bit new. To be honest, I don’t think I did anything great. I’m just trying to win a game. I’m just trying to fight,” she continued.
‘The fourth round is nothing. If I win a slam, I might have to win three more matches, and it’s very difficult to win seven matches in a row.
‘I don’t think I’ve done anything incredible. I hope I have time for it.’
Andreeva, who is managed by the IMG agency, has drawn parallels with Maria Sharapova and Emma Raducanu, but she is eager to create her own name.
Determined ‘not to be a diva’ and ‘always remain humble’, Andreeva will not get carried away on this run to round four, where she faces an as-yet-unknown opponent, not with her homework still to be completed.