Mirra Andreeva: "Every time I lose ... it's like the end of the world to me"

Marta Kostyuk wasn't the only thing that got the better of Mirra Andreeva on Saturday in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open. The Russian teenager was once again undone by her emotions—this time, after a 6-3, 7-5 loss that marked her first career defeat in three WTA 1000-level finals.

While Andreeva used her temperament as fuel for a victory earlier in the tournament, she was almost subdued as she played as the favorite for nearly an hour and a half against Kostyuk and slumped to a straight-set defeat against the Ukrainian for the second time this year.

But the dam broke when she sat in her courtside chair, burying her face in her hands, and again she took the microphone for her runner-up speech when she thanked her team "for always being there for [her] and supporting me at all times, when it’s easy and when it’s hard."

"I’m sorry. I promised myself I’m not gonna cry. I’m sorry," she said, overcome with tears. After placing her runner-up plate in her line of sight between her and her support team in the stands "because it's easier like this," she added, "I know it’s sometimes maybe not easy to work with me. But I really appreciate all your support and everything you do for me."

Read more: Amanda Anisimova: "It made me really sad" to see Mirra Andreeva emotional in Dubai

Meeting reporters later, Andreeva confessed that "every time I lose, every time it's like the end of the world to me."

"I don't know, sometimes I see other players, like, smile right after the defeat, right after the matches they lost," she said. "To me, I don't understand how people do it. I wish I could do it.

"Every match that I lose is obviously very disappointing and very painful to me. I hope that maybe in the future this can improve and I can maybe, after the match that I lose, I can talk about it right away and not take some time before starting to talk about it."

Despite the "hard day," Andreeva said she hoped to lift her spirits with a victory in Sunday's doubles final alongside Diana Shnaider.

"Overall I think that when we talk with my team, I think we can take a lot of positives from this week," she said. "Yeah, it's been tough, but overall I think it was a pretty good two weeks for me."