Mirra Andreeva "kept my focus, kept my composure” to win first Grand Slam title

Mirra Andreeva had reached the psychological point of no return,. She was up a set and a break, 6-3, 2-0, in her first Grand Slam final. Once you get to that stage in a match of that magnitude, you have to win. Because if you lose from there, it means that at some level you choked—or at least it looks like you choked—and the world won’t let you forget it.

Right own cue, Andreeva, who had been virtually flawless for 11 games, suddenly faltered. She sent a backhand volley five feet over the baseline. She put backhand ground stroke into the net. When she failed to track down a drop shot, she showed her first sign of annoyance all afternoon.

A minute earlier, she had been cruising. Now she was down 0-40 and on the verge of being all-even again in the second set. So far, she had faced down two tricky opponents. The first was pesky Maja Chwalinska, she of the moonball and the chop shot and the crowd-pleasing Cinderella story. The second was the wind, which swirled through Court Philippe Chatrier, and sent balls bending and diving in surprising directions.

Maybe most important, the 19-year-old had kept her own teenage tantrum-throwing tendencies at bay, as she had throughout the second week. This was something new for the highly flammable Andreeva, who was bashing herself in the leg with her racquet as recently as the third round in Paris. Many of us wondered how long she could maintain her self-control. Now she would face the ultimate test of her poise, and likely the final one she would need to pass before she could hold a major trophy.

It turned out there was no reason to worry. Andreeva saved all three break points, the last one with a confidently struck backhand that drew a shanked reply from Chwalinska. Andreeva held, then broke at love in the next game with a brilliant series of winners. While there were a couple of sweaty moments and nervous errors at the finish line, she had passed with flying colors, 6-3, 6-2.

Read more: Mirra Andreeva ends dream run of Maja Chwalinska to capture first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros

“I felt the conditions were really tough, the wind was going in a lot of different directions,” Andreeva said. “I’m just happy I kept my focus, kept my composure.”

“‘No way I’m going to lose this match,’” she told herself down the stretch. “I’m very happy with how focused I was in the last game.”

For the past year and a half, since she climbed into the Top 10 at 17, we’ve been saying that it’s a matter of when, not if, the Russian wins her first major. Now “when” has arrived, in a pretty spectacular way.

In an upset-filled event, she dropped just one set. In the quarters and semis, she took out two of the best players of this spring, Sorana Cirstea and Marta Kostyuk, 6-0, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-3. In the 82-minute final, she made 78 percent of her first serves and hit 25 winners to just 10 from her opponent. Chwalinska, with her low-mph ground strokes, gave Andreeva plenty of time to get tight, but Andreeva hit right through whatever nerves she may have felt.

Now I feel like ... I completely trust what my team tells me, and now it’s easier for me to do. Mirra Andreeva

In her last four matches, she also hit with a tremendously effective mix of depth, pace, and spin that perfectly balanced aggression and margin. If we were wondering what a Slam-winning Andreeva would play like, she showed us this week. She was so dialed in, she said, she was “seeing the little hairs on the ball” as it came toward her.

What changed? Somewhere along the line in Paris, Andreeva said, she realized that if she wanted to win, she couldn’t lose her cool. So she decided to stop losing her cool. She also—half-jokingly, as always—said she finally started to fully listen to her coach, Conchita Martinez.

“At some points, I was listening, but at the same time, you know, sticking to what I have been doing,” Andreeva said of her relationship with Martinez. “So maybe that’s why it was also not working every time.”

“Now I feel like, I don’t know, I feel like I completely trust what my team tells me, and now it’s easier for me to do.”

Now that she has one, should we expect more Slam titles to come quickly for Andreeva? Winning Roland Garros as a teenager generally augers well: Chris Evert, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, and Iga Swiatek are among those on that list. But the rest of the majors may not fall as fast for Andreeva. She likes clay, and has yet to make the semis at any other Slam.

But that was the old Mirra. The new Mirra has built up a formidable baseline groove, and passed the toughest of psychological tests in tennis. Maybe best of all for her, she has made the most important person in her tennis life happy—by taking her advice.

Asked what Martinez told her after the match, Andreeva said:

“‘We did it.’ Honestly, at this moment, that’s all I needed to hear.”