Mirra Andreeva believes her French Open title will be the start of a grand slam addiction after she became the youngest woman in 34 years to win at Roland Garros.
The 19-year-old denied Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska a fairy-tale ending to her Cinderella story, sweeping to a 6-3 6-2 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Andreeva is the youngest women’s singles champion since Monica Seles back in 1992 and the first Russian to win a major singles trophy since the invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
While the political landscape will make this a difficult triumph to cheer for many, there is no doubt Andreeva, who lives and trains in France, is a phenomenal talent and a worthy slam champion.
“It’s been one of my biggest dreams in my life, and I’m just super happy that I was able to give my best and win the match and win this tournament,” said Andreeva.
“I’ve had dreams, I’ve had a lot of thoughts on how it’s going to happen, if it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, where. I would say that the feeling in real life is so much better, obviously, than in your dreams.
“Now I’m already thinking of how I’m going to prepare for the grass season. I feel like this thing is a little bit addictive, and I really want to do my best to experience all of this for the second time.”
It was fitting that the teenager collected the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen from Mary Pierce given the Frenchwoman defeated Andreeva’s coach Conchita Martinez in her only final here in 2000.
Martinez, who also coached Garbine Muguruza to a Wimbledon title, began working with Andreeva two years ago.
It has proved a productive partnership but has not been without its ups and downs, with Andreeva struggling at times to handle her emotions on court.
In an on-court speech that included the Russian’s now customary shout-out to herself, Andreeva thanked sports psychologist Alexis Castorri, who previously worked with Andy Murray, for her help and referenced “so many demons inside me”.
“My psychologist says that you can always choose how you’re going to be on the court and how you’re going to play and who you’re going to be as a person as well,” said Andreeva, who is the first Russian winner of a women’s slam singles title since Maria Sharapova here in 2014.
“So I just decided to choose to be a fighter. And I watched a lot of Roger (Federer’s) matches here. No-one is going to have the same aura but I really want to try to impersonate the way he behaves a little bit on the court.
“Maybe that helped me a little bit, because I wanted to look good on the court, not be frustrated or be not happy with how I play.”
Andreeva concluded her speech in Russian, while two spectators who brought out Russian flags to celebrate were told to put them away by security.
Attention ahead of the match had understandably been dominated by the remarkable run from qualifying to the final of 24-year-old Pole Chwalinska, who had the vast majority of the crowd support.
Nine successive victories put her one win away from matching Emma Raducanu’s unprecedented achievement in New York in 2021.
That final step proved significantly too much in the end, with Andreeva dealing much better with her nerves and the windy conditions, and she won nine games in a row from 2-3 in the opening set.
“I will definitely not forget these three weeks,” said Chwalinska. “Paris will stay forever in my heart.”
The Pole will climb from 114th in the rankings to 21, which would be enough to earn her a seeding for Wimbledon.
However, because the entry cut-off is six weeks before the tournament, Chwalinska will need a wild card to avoid having to start in qualifying again.
She is taking nothing for granted, saying of the possibility: “That would be the news of a century. Honestly, I don’t expect it, but I’ll see.”
Chwalinska is no teenage dreamer having battled away on the lower reaches of the tour for years, including struggling with depression, without ever making the top 100 or beating a top-50 player.
“It’s such a huge jump all of a sudden but really it’s been 18 years of hard work and patience and perseverance,” she added.
“I had to go through so much to be in this position. Life’s weird sometimes, and you’ve just got to do your thing and believe that it will click someday, and I’m happy that it did.”
