Mirra Andreeva

M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
helterskelter said:
Nice stats. She's one month and four days younger than Sharapova was when she played her SF at Wimbledon 2004. (Even had Sharapova beaten Paolo Suarez in the QF of Roland Garros 2004, she'd still have been six days older than Andreeva is today).

Do you know whether there have been any 17-year-old slam semi-finalists since Sharapova? I can't remember without looking it up. There was about a decade in which no 18-year-old reached a slam quarter-final, IIRC, let alone 17-year-olds and semi-finals. (Or was that just at the US Open? Ana Konjuh in 2016 was the first 18-year-old to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open since Tatiana Gloving in 2006).

If not, she's the first 17-year-old to reach a slam semi since Australian Open 2005! That would be quite the gap, given that Austin, Seles, and Hingis had all won slams prior to turning 17. Times change!

Jaeger also reached a slam final before turning 17 - she won her semi-final at Roland Garros 1982 the day before her 17th birthday, and lost the final the day after it. Graf and Capriati reached slam semi-finals before turning 17.
Click to expand...
Vaidisova was 17 when she made semis at '06 RG and '07 AO.

IMO the Capriati rules that started in '95 are a factor in why there are less 17 year olds making deep runs than in the past. Coco and Andreeva have talked about the restrictions on the amount of events they are/were allowed to enter when they were 15/16 etc. While Jaeger, Austin etc could play 25-30 events a year when they were 15/16.

Hingis(and Venus/Serena) turned pro just before age restrictions came into effect. Kournikova turned pro after that and often complained about the restrictions she had to deal with.
 
H

helterskelter

G.O.A.T.
Moose Malloy said:
Vaidisova was 17 when she made semis at '06 RG and '07 AO.

IMO the Capriati rules that started in '95 are a factor in why there are less 17 year olds making deep runs than in the past. Coco and Andreeva have talked about the restrictions on the amount of events they are/were allowed to enter when they were 15/16 etc. While Jaeger, Austin etc could play 25-30 events a year when they were 15/16.

Hingis(and Venus/Serena) turned pro just before age restrictions came into effect. Kournikova turned pro after that and often complained about the restrictions she had to deal with.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Still, only one 17 year old in 19 years and none in 17 years!

I think you're right about the new rules being part of the change, but only part of it, because teenagers were also aged out of the men's game in the 1990s. Borg, Wilander, Becker, Edberg, Chang, and Sampras all won slams as teens between 1974 and 1990, but from the start of 1991 there wasn't another teen slam finalist until Nadal. And there were fewer teens in the high echelons of the rankings, too, although that was a slower change. (Andrey Medvedev, for example, had a fair amount of success at 17/18). At any rate, teens were slightly less successful in men's tennis from the early 90s than they had been before.

By the way, weren't there two stages of rules restricting young players from entering tournaments? I believe they put some in place following Austin and Jaeger's burnouts or at least at some point in the 1980s. In my recollection, Capriati was also limited in how many events she could play, although perhaps not as limited as Kournikova and after. For one thing, I'm fairly certain that Capriati wasn't allowed to play a pro event until she turned 14 - or, to be more precise, until the month she turned 14 (March 1990). This is described in Hard Courts by John Feinstein. If I recall correctly, he says that she had wanted to play pro events from the start of 1990, but wasn't allowed to do so until March. She did play a match in the Wightman Cup in 1989, but then did not play the Australian Open in 1990.

I had thought that Capriati wasn't allowed to play more than 12 tournaments a year when she was 14 and 15 and only had unrestricted entry from 16 onwards. Is that wrong? (At any rate, I'm fairly sure that the number of events she did play in 1990 was 12 - the WTA website is useless these days, but I checked it on Steve G). I thought it was that by the time Kournikova came around, they reduced the number of tournaments that an underage player could play, and perhaps extended the restrictions to cover 16 and 17 year olds, too?

I can also dig up my copy of Feinstein and see what he has to say about it.
 
ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
Kralingen said:
Is anyone else following this story?

Mirra Andreeva is a Russian player born in 2007 (turns 16 on Saturday) taking the Tour by storm. The 15 year old wildcard has beaten Leylah Fernandez and top 15 player Beatriz Haddad Maia this week at Madrid. The 3rd youngest player ever to win a main draw match on the WTA 100 level, and the 7th youngest to beat a top 20 player. She’s also on a 15 match win streak including ITF W60s. This is a breakthrough way ahead of schedule.

The next big thing?

www.wtatennis.com

Five quick hits with Mirra Andreeva, the 16-year-old making her mark in Madrid

Mirra Andreeva's dream week continues at the Mutua Madrid Open. The 16-year-old rising star is into the second week of the Mutua Madrid Open in her Hologic WTA Tour debut.
www.wtatennis.com www.wtatennis.com
Click to expand...

I did follow her for a while, but kinda tuned out for a bit. She comes up on Kasatkina's Youtube vlog often enough and is a great personality for sure, but wasn't sure about her tennis. Seems to have rounded that out too.
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
helterskelter said:
Thanks for that. Still, only one 17 year old in 19 years and none in 17 years!

I think you're right about the new rules being part of the change, but only part of it, because teenagers were also aged out of the men's game in the 1990s. Borg, Wilander, Becker, Edberg, Chang, and Sampras all won slams as teens between 1974 and 1990, but from the start of 1991 there wasn't another teen slam finalist until Nadal. And there were fewer teens in the high echelons of the rankings, too, although that was a slower change. (Andrey Medvedev, for example, had a fair amount of success at 17/18). At any rate, teens were slightly less successful in men's tennis from the early 90s than they had been before.

By the way, weren't there two stages of rules restricting young players from entering tournaments? I believe they put some in place following Austin and Jaeger's burnouts or at least at some point in the 1980s. In my recollection, Capriati was also limited in how many events she could play, although perhaps not as limited as Kournikova and after. For one thing, I'm fairly certain that Capriati wasn't allowed to play a pro event until she turned 14 - or, to be more precise, until the month she turned 14 (March 1990). This is described in Hard Courts by John Feinstein. If I recall correctly, he says that she had wanted to play pro events from the start of 1990, but wasn't allowed to do so until March. She did play a match in the Wightman Cup in 1989, but then did not play the Australian Open in 1990.

I had thought that Capriati wasn't allowed to play more than 12 tournaments a year when she was 14 and 15 and only had unrestricted entry from 16 onwards. Is that wrong? (At any rate, I'm fairly sure that the number of events she did play in 1990 was 12 - the WTA website is useless these days, but I checked it on Steve G). I thought it was that by the time Kournikova came around, they reduced the number of tournaments that an underage player could play, and perhaps extended the restrictions to cover 16 and 17 year olds, too?

I can also dig up my copy of Feinstein and see what he has to say about it.
Click to expand...
The current rules(which have been the same since 1995 I believe) are you can only play 8 events as a 14 year old, 10 as a 15 year old, 12 as a 16 year old, 15 as a 17 year old.

Jaeger and Austin were only allowed to turn pro when they were 14, so Capriati waiting until March 1990 was not something new. Based on Hingis' playing activity, I doubt there were any restrictions as a 15 or 16 year old for Capriati (maybe as 14 year old). Hingis played 18 events as a 15 year old and 17 as a 16 year old.
 
H

helterskelter

G.O.A.T.
Moose Malloy said:
The current rules(which have been the same since 1995 I believe) are you can only play 8 events as a 14 year old, 10 as a 15 year old, 12 as a 16 year old, 15 as a 17 year old.

Jaeger and Austin were only allowed to turn pro when they were 14, so Capriati waiting until March 1990 was not something new. Based on Hingis' playing activity, I doubt there were any restrictions as a 15 or 16 year old for Capriati (maybe as 14 year old). Hingis played 18 events as a 15 year old and 17 as a 16 year old.
Click to expand...

I'll look up what Feinstein says about it (it's based on interviews with many of the players, so he has quotes from Capriati about it). I think she did have limited tournaments as a 14-year-old, but I had thought her tournaments as a 15-year-old were limited, too, so my memory could be faulty. Perhaps her parents and coaches wouldn't let her play as much as she wanted to, rather than the tour.

I'm actually quite surprised that players of 14 and 15 are allowed to play at all - I'd have thought them doing so would fall foul of child labour laws.
 
Mark-Touch

Mark-Touch

Legend
It took a while for Mirra to figure out Dani's game. Yeah, like right up to being down match point!
But once she did, it was all smooth sailing. :)

But seriously, some changes will be needed with her game if she is going to take it to the next level.
Specifically hitting flatter with more power.
She was being bossed around by Dani for much of the match.
 
Razer

Razer

G.O.A.T.
Moose Malloy said:
Vaidisova was 17 when she made semis at '06 RG and '07 AO.

IMO the Capriati rules that started in '95 are a factor in why there are less 17 year olds making deep runs than in the past. Coco and Andreeva have talked about the restrictions on the amount of events they are/were allowed to enter when they were 15/16 etc. While Jaeger, Austin etc could play 25-30 events a year when they were 15/16.

Hingis(and Venus/Serena) turned pro just before age restrictions came into effect. Kournikova turned pro after that and often complained about the restrictions she had to deal with.
Click to expand...

Andreeva resembles Vaidisova as well I think, a lil bit.. the 17 yr old versions
 
Mark-Touch

Mark-Touch

Legend
GRASScaraz said:
Do you think Mirra plays like a teenage Gauff did?
Click to expand...
Good question.
To be honest I didn't follow Gauff much when she first came on the scene.
But there are some similarities for sure.

They both favor (are more comfortable with) fairly loopy shots.
Gauff started to flatten hers out more the past year or so to her great benefit.

Mirra needs to do the same.

The both are excellent movers. Mirra probably holds the edge in touch/drop shots.
Gauff is better at the BH slice, Mirra rarely uses it.
Gauff beefed up her serve the past year also. There's room for improvement with
Mirra's serve, although it's usually safe from immediate attack.

They're both very strong mentally, although I don't like Mirra's occasional emotional outbursts.

I can see a potential rivalry brewing between these two.
Gauff holds a 2-0 h2h lead at the moment.
 
GRASScaraz

GRASScaraz

Hall of Fame
Mark-Touch said:
Good question.
To be honest I didn't follow Gauff much when she first came on the scene.
But there are some similarities for sure.

They both favor (are more comfortable with) fairly loopy shots.
Gauff started to flatten hers out more the past year or so to her great benefit.

Mirra needs to do the same.

The both are excellent movers. Mirra probably holds the edge in touch/drop shots.
Gauff is better at the BH slice, Mirra rarely uses it.
Gauff beefed up her serve the past year also. There's room for improvement with
Mirra's serve, although it's usually safe from immediate attack.

They're both very strong mentally, although I don't like Mirra's occasional emotional outbursts.

I can see a potential rivalry brewing between these two.
Gauff holds a 2-0 h2h lead at the moment.
Click to expand...
Mirra has started to come to the net more since she got Conchita Martinez as her coach

I actually like Mirra's FH better than Gauff, less likely to break down and leak errors. But I agree she needs to go for it more as she has the ability to do so and being passive with it makes her struggles against defensive players.

Both Mirra and Gauff are great athletes and at the moment Gauff has a considerable serve advantage.
 
Mark-Touch

Mark-Touch

Legend
GRASScaraz said:
Mirra has started to come to the net more since she got Conchita Martinez as her coach

I actually like Mirra's FH better than Gauff, less likely to break down and leak errors. But I agree she needs to go for it more as she has the ability to do so and being passive with it makes her struggles against defensive players.

Both Mirra and Gauff are great athletes and at the moment Gauff has a considerable serve advantage.
Click to expand...
Yup I agree.
Although Mirra is coming to the net more, she still looks very uncomfortable up there.
So still lots of potential with her game, but already a force to reckon with.
 
spystud

spystud

Talk Tennis Guru
GVIdeqVXYAAv3oX


Gets Iga next.
 
J

johnmccabe

Hall of Fame
Played a gutsy match against paolini today. She made an excellent choice of her new coach, unlike the stubborn Rybakina. I have high hopes for Andreeva. She seems pretty genuine too.
 
wang07

wang07

Semi-Pro
Kralingen said:
Well, there you go.

First of many, probably double digits in the end. I foresee world domination for Mirra eventually.
Click to expand...
I’ve been listening to a lot of LeBron James interviews & he said that It’s easy to be confident & play good when everything goes your way, but what makes you a champion is when you’re giving your best when you don’t feel great. So that’s what I tried to do today.

x.com

x.com x.com
 
Mark-Touch

Mark-Touch

Legend
At this stage of her development there are really only a few issues with her game.

Because of her age, she is lacking in confidence when she faces a big name player.
But the more scalps she accumulates she should quickly overcome this.

Another thing is her emotional outbursts. It's a sign of immaturity and needs to be tamed as
quickly as possible.

Her serve has been beefed up, which is great to see. I'd like to see her beef up her ground
strokes more and take charge of rallies earlier than she does now.
She spends too much time retrieving shots because her opponents are often first to assert
themselves in a point.

I'd also like to see her develop her touch game more and learn to come to net.

But she is certainly on the right track to continue her march up the rankings.
The sky is the limit for Mirra. :)
 
K

Kralingen

Bionic Poster
wang07 said:
I’ve been listening to a lot of LeBron James interviews & he said that It’s easy to be confident & play good when everything goes your way, but what makes you a champion is when you’re giving your best when you don’t feel great. So that’s what I tried to do today.

x.com

x.com x.com
Click to expand...
I was not aware of this.

My view of the Mirra Andreeva project has turned significantly more bullish. If she’s already modeling her career after LeBron, at this age, sky is the limit
 
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