Mirra Andreeva, the polished Russian jewel from the French Riviera who won her first WTA at the age of 17 and doesn't know what she will do with the $600,000 prize

Mirra Andreeva has been making waves on the most important circuit in women's tennis for the past two seasons. A Russian talent honed on the French Riviera, in 2023 she went from winning the Australian Open junior title to surprising on the clay in Madrid to a Grand Slam finalist and two top 20 finishes, in the week of her 16th birthday. That was her calling card to the tennis world, which immediately elevated her as a future number 1. And after a 2024 of great evolution, she made a splash at the weekend in Dubai , where she lifted her first WTA 1000 trophy , secured her promotion to the top 10 and broke several records of precocity, including one that put her on par with one of her most successful compatriots.

On her way to the title in Dubai, Andreeva defeated Czech Marketa Voundrousova , who won the 2023 Wimbledon title, in the second round; Polish Iga Swiatek , winner of five Majors , in the quarterfinals; and Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina , winner at the All England in 2022, in the semis. And at 17 years and nine months, she became the youngest tennis player to beat three Grand Slam champions in the same event since Maria Sharapova did so at the 2004 WTA Finals .

At that event, the former number one, then 17 years and six months old and winner of Wimbledon that year, beat Svetlana Kuznetsova , who had won the US Open months earlier, in the round robin; Anastasia Myskina , who had been crowned champion at Roland Garros , in the semi-finals; and Serena Williams , who already had six of her 23 "grand" titles under her belt, in the final.

Thanks to her victory in the final of the Arab tournament against the Dane Clara Tauson , Andreeva took home a prize of 600 thousand dollars, which she does not know how to spend. "I still don't know what I want. Now I think about the prize and I feel that I have everything I always wanted and I am happy," she said. She also collected a thousand ranking points, which allowed her to climb five positions in the ranking, from 14th to ninth place, to debut in the top 10. And she became the youngest player to enter that elite since the Czech Nicole Vaidisova , who was 17 years and almost four months old when she achieved it in August 2006.

The Russian is also the youngest WTA 1000 champion since the category was introduced in 2009 and only the second teenager to win a singles title in Dubai since the tournament's inception in 1993. The first was Rafael Nadal in 2006, aged 19.

"This is amazing. I had set myself the goal of reaching the top 10 before the end of the year and I already achieved that in February," said Andreeva. And, ambitious, she set herself a new goal: "The higher your ranking is, the slower the climb becomes because the points difference is very, very small. It will be very difficult to get into the top five, but that is what I am going to aim for for the rest of the season. I am very curious to see if I can make it."

Originally from Krasnoyarsk , she started playing tennis at the age of six and after a brief move to Sochi, she ended up settling in Cannes , where she still lives with her sister Erika , also a tennis player, to train at the academy of Jean René Lisnard and Jean Christophe Faurel . She became number one in the junior world at the end of May 2023, shortly after that impressive performance in Madrid, in which she reached the round of 16 with victories against Leyla Fernández , finalist of the 2021 US Open, the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia , 14th in the ranking, and the Polish Magda Linette , 19th.

Last year she made a leap forward in quality. She reached the last 16 in Australia, where she beat Ons Jabeur (6th) in her second match; she reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros, beating Aryna Sabalenka , then number two in the WTA; she won her first title at the 250 in Iasi , Romania; and she won Olympic silver in the women's doubles at Paris 2024 with Diana Shnaider .

Her growth in recent years has been dizzying. At the beginning of 2022, she had not yet played a WTA tournament. She started 2023 ranked 293rd. At the end of last year, already coached by Conchita Martínez , she was among the top 20. And now she has broken the top 10 barrier. And her tennis never ceases to amaze: she plays very loosely, solid from the baseline but moving very well on the court, with a winning backhand and an aggressive game, which she can still improve a lot.

"When the match starts, I don't have anything on my mind. Conchita and I talk about tactics, but many times I don't remember anything about what I'm planning when I go out on the pitch. So I just focus on playing," she said. And she admitted that sometimes she feels the pressure of expectations: "I try not to think about what people say about me, although sometimes I do because I can't control my thoughts. There are days when I feel like I'm not good enough to be here. I try to visualise my matches in training and that helps me improve."

Andreeva, however, is much more than just a great tennis player. She is a charismatic teenager, who has already won over fans with her confidence in front of microphones and her effervescent and extroverted personality.

The Russian, represented by IMG and with Nike and Wilson as major sponsors, had no problem saying that her mother Raisa , who travels with her around the world, still braids her hair before each match . She often plays table tennis with Erika, three years older and 91st in the world, and the matches sometimes end in a typical sisterly fight. And that she is quite superstitious. "Sometimes, if I'm winning in the same tournament, I wash my clothes after every match because I want to wear the same ones the next day. Or I go to the same restaurant every day at the same time," she confessed.

She once jokingly said that if Novak Djokovic has won 24 Grand Slams, she wants to win 25. And she also caused some controversy, such as at Wimbledon 2023, when she was fined for throwing her racket several times in the match she lost to Madison Keys and left the court without greeting the umpire.

After her victory in Dubai, she said that she had two legends of the sport as inspiration during the week. The Swiss Roger Federer and his victory in the final of Australia 2017 against Nadal. "I was watching that match and I was thinking 'God... how can he play so well?' It's something extraordinary," she said. And the American LeBron James , star of the NBA Lakers , from whom she took a simple but difficult advice to follow. "I have heard many interviews with LeBron in which he says that it is very easy to play well when everything goes well, but what makes you a champion is to give your best when you don't feel well. That's what I tried to do in the final. I didn't feel good on the court, but I chose to be 100 percent mentally, fight for every point and forget about the mistakes to be ready for the next point," she said.

And before saying goodbye to the Arab tournament, she made a funny promise, which she hopes to keep soon. "I always see the champions celebrating their titles by drinking champagne. I can't because I'm not yet 18. When I turn 18 in April and win a tournament, you will see me at the conference with a glass of champagne. For now, I'm going to keep celebrating with diet soda," she said, laughing.