Andreeva's unexpected confession: "I went almost two weeks without picking up a racket, and they were the best of the year"

Mirra Andreeva against Marta Kostyuk, this will be the match that gifts us in the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati. Yes, exactly the same matchup that took place in the semifinals of the last Roland Garros, the place where the Russian experienced her best moment as a professional.

Now several months have passed, and things seem to have changed. As for the Russian, to no one’s surprise, she needed some setbacks in tournaments before finding that balance that a 19-year-old girl receives after winning her first Grand Slam title. Perhaps it is in Ohio these days when she is regaining that energy on the court, although the road has not been easy. She explains it herself at the table of Tennis Channel, always accompanied by that good humor that makes her unique.

A champion also feels nerves

“I think it’s me that provokes those thoughts and nerves, no one else does it. I have to be the one to try to get them out of my head. Today I was trying to tell myself to just keep hitting the ball no matter what happened. I prefer to make a mistake than to hesitate. At one point, I felt like I was starting to slice, to do lobs, and to play in a way that was too defensive, but I wanted to be more aggressive. Today was all about forcing myself to really do what I needed to do.”

What did Andreeva do after winning Roland Garros?

“I had a great block of rest, 11 days to be exact. No tennis, no racket, nothing. Almost two weeks without playing tennis, it was the best moment of the year. I spent a lot of time with my family, with my dog, whom I hadn’t seen for a very long time, and also with my friends. I went to Dasha's (Kasatkina) wedding and it was great, I had a lot of fun. Then, to be honest, coming back and starting to train again wasn’t easy. That was the downside of resting so much. I ran out of breath after five minutes hitting from the baseline and thought: ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’. After about a week, I started to regain my usual rhythm and feelings on the court, and I thought: ‘Thank God, I feel good again’.”

A roller coaster waiting

“Conchita (Martínez) is not my go-to person for roller coasters. I’m trying to convince her, maybe we’ll go on a small one first and then she’ll like it and we can go on all the ones they have, but she says: ‘No, after my neck, my back, and my knees, I’m not going’. And I’m thinking: ‘What do I do now? I don’t want to go alone’. Zayb was supposed to take me, but I saw her the other day with Eva Lee. Though it’s a joke, we talked this morning. I didn’t want to bother her because when they went I was playing my match, so we just said we’d go another day, maybe during preseason, and we’ll ride the roller coasters together.”

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Her funnier side

“Maybe I get a little embarrassed and shy if someone doesn’t laugh at my jokes. I would think: ‘Oh my God, this is the worst’. I think Aryna could do it the best because she loves attention, makes great jokes, and I think she would be really good. I also thought of Ellen Perez, because she has a great sense of humor and I think she could do very well. I like it when people laugh at me because that’s fun. I like to laugh at myself, and I enjoy banter.”

Thinking about the US Open... and everything around it

“In New York, maybe we’ll go to a Harry Styles concert. It’s not confirmed yet, so I’m looking forward to seeing if it finally happens. But I don’t know, sometimes I just want to rest, go out to dinner with friends or family, spend a bit more time outside tournaments, not think about tennis, and just have fun. I think finding that good balance works really well, and I have been trying to do it lately. Mentally, it has been much easier for me this way.”

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La inesperada confesión de Andreeva: “Estuve casi dos semanas sin coger una raqueta y fueron las mejores del año”