Mirra Andreeva has been a rising talent in women’s tennis. Just 16, she made her mark at 2023 Wimbledon, becoming the youngest player to reach the last 16. With a meteoric rise that saw her go as high as No. 46 (career-best ranking) during a remarkable 2023 season, Andreeva stands as one of the future stars of the game.
Furthermore, with a career win percentage of 61%, Andreeva sits at the same level as Maria Sharapova and Daria Saville after winning one of the most prestigious WTA youngsters awards for her remarkable performance in the 2023 season.
Who is Mirra Andreeva?
Mirra Andreeva was born on April 29, 2007, which makes her 16 years old currently. Andreeva became famous at the Wimbledon championship in July after she won three matches in the qualifying draw and then three in the Wimbledon main draw to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
The Russian became the youngest player to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon since Coco Gauff in 2019, going down to Madison Keys in three sets in the fourth round. This season, Andreeva scored her first top-20 win at the Madrid Open after upsetting 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia to become the seventh youngest player since 2000 to defeat a top-20 player before the age of 16. Before that, she defeated former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez to become the third youngest player to win a main draw match at a WTA 1000 event (only Coco Gauff and CiCi Bellis were younger).
Andreeva’s run came to an end in the last 16 against world No. 2 and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.
Mirra Andreeva echoes Sharapova’s legacy
The highly rated Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva has been named this year’s WTA Newcomer of the Year thanks to her outstanding performances and meteoric rise that culminated in a place in the world’s Top 60. In 2022, Andreeva was World No. 405 but soared as high as No. 46 during a remarkable 2023 season.
Andreeva is the fifth Russian to win this WTA award category, following in the footsteps of Anna Kournikova (1996), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2002), Maria Sharapova (2003), and Daria Saville (2015), who played under the Russian flag for six years before switching her nationality. Plying her trade at the junior event last season to reach the major round of 16 proves the growth of the youngster.
It took her just a few months before the 16-year-old star burst onto the scene on the WTA stage in 2023, making her WTA main draw debut last year at the Jasmin Open. After winning back-to-back W60 ITF events in Switzerland in April, tournament organizers in Madrid showed faith in the teenager’s talent.
She was offered a wild card to play in the Masters events and Andreeva fully repaid them with an incredible run to the fourth round. At the Madrid Open, she defeated 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and scored successive Top 20 wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette.
Andreeva used that dream week in the Spanish capital as a springboard to even bigger scalps. She qualified for her first senior Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros, where she reached the third round.
