Andreeva and the curious reason she made a comeback against Rybakina

Carlos Navarro | 21 Feb 2025 | 17.20

Mirra Andreeva. Source: Getty

Streaming Wimbledon MD live tennis

🎾 Doumbia/Reboul vs Kopriva/Pieczonka

Sign up with Bet365 here
Make your first deposit of at least €5
Go to the “Live” section and watch every match

Watch the match on Bet365

Mirra Andreeva continues to steal headlines and hearts of female tennis fans. The new WTA superstar has already made it to the final of the WTA Dubai 2025, the greatest achievement of a career that projects ambitious goals on the horizon. Achieving such a feat at 17 years old demonstrates there is something special about her tennis, physicality, and mindset, with the mental aspect precisely being what led her to complete a remarkable comeback against a Grand Slam champion like Elena Rybakina.

After winning the first set, the Russian entered a small negative spiral, with errors, self-reproach, and a feeling of being at the mercy of the Kazakhstan player. When Rybakina struck the first blow of the deciding set, breaking Mirra's serve to make it 3-1, all seemed lost. However, the Muscovite didn’t think so, making a small mental shift that eventually handed her the match, an adjustment that clearly speaks to her maturity and explains such an important victory.

"Honestly, when I lost my serve and fell behind 1-3 while she was serving, I thought: 'Well, okay, I've had a good week, it's all good, it's been a good match, so I'll try to fight for each point and we’ll see, but she's serving so well that... okay.' I guess that mindset helped me because I let go, kept fighting for every point. When I don’t dwell on what might happen, when I don't think about the score, when I just fight... that's when I find my best form of play."

How fighting for every point led Mirra Andreeva to victory 🧠#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/QcjB03Gx2J
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) February 21, 2025

REVENGE ACCOMPLISHED

It might seem a trivial detail, but it perfectly defines Andreeva's privileged mindset, capable of making lightning-fast micro-adjustments to turn around adverse situations and possessing an ironclad mentality that rarely buckles. The match held significant symbolism for Andreeva, who faced Rybakina a year and a half ago and received an unfavorable scoreline, losing in three sets in the Beijing tournament: therefore, the Kazakh player was a litmus test... which she passed with flying colors.

"The last time we faced each other was a very tough match. I had many opportunities, but as an experienced player, she didn't give me a chance, went for her shots, and ultimately defeated me. I knew she was going to hit hard, she's a great server, so I knew I had to accept that things, at times, wouldn't go as I wanted: I had to fight for every point, always believe in myself, and in the end, I ended up winning the match." Andreeva's dream continues alive and her next challenge will be facing Karolina Muchova or Clara Tauson: just one match away from becoming the youngest player in history to win a WTA 1000 (since this category's inception in 2009). She has undoubtedly earned the right to dream.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Andreeva y el curioso motivo por el que remontó ante Rybakina

Mirra Andreeva