Newly 17 Mirra Andreeva gets Paula Badosa birthday wish in Rome debut

ROME, Italy—Mirra Andreeva celebrated her 17th birthday during the Mutua Madrid Open and got a belated (and perhaps unexpected) present this week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia when she learned she would make her Foro Italico debut against Paula Badosa.

“I’ve actually wanted to play Badosa, and I will play her tomorrow!” she said on Monday. “She’s an amazing player and I saw a lot of her matches, like when she won Indian Wells in 2021, and I watched some matches of hers recently.”

Andreeva has already faced her share of quality opposition through what has been a wildly successful first 18 months on the Hologic WTA tour, amassing an impressive 8-7 record against Top 20 players that includes two Top 10 victories in 2024.

In Madrid, she scored her second against reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova en route to the quarterfinals, bettering her breakout 2023 result when she reached the fourth round as a wild card.

“I feel like when you face a good player, you become better and you’re always challenging yourself until the last moment,” she mused, sitting mere meters from Campo Centrale. “You’re playing 100% and you want to win. Before a match against a seeded player or someone who has won titles on the WTA circuit, I feel like, ‘That will be a challenge for me,’ and it helps me to improve. It challenges me to be a better person and I feel even better and happier after winning these matches, so I’ll be excited for tomorrow because it’ll help me improve my game and myself.”

Though Badosa is far from her career-high rank of No. 2, the 26-year-old made the quarterfinals in Rome only last year, scoring wins over Ons Jabeur, Marta Kostyuk, and Barbora Krejcikova along the way. This year has seen the Spaniard deal with struggles both physical and emotional, retiring from the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a leg injury and announcing on Sunday that she had split with longtime boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Andreeva, by contrast, is enjoying the rush that comes with the newness of tour life, laughingly admitting that she is yet to watch footage of new coach Conchita Martinez, who retired from tennis a full year before the teenager was born.

“I know she’s won this tournament four years in a row,” said Andreeva, who got the lowdown from Martinez on how the venue has changed since she last won the title in 1996. “She has a special thing here in Rome. But I haven’t seen her matches. I keep saying, ‘Tonight I will watch!’ Maybe this week, but not yet.”

Andreeva’s earliest tennis memory is much more recent than any millennial or older would prefer to hear: the Australian Open final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. You know, the one that took place in 2017.

But who can begrudge the precocious teenager, especially one with such a comprehensive gelato order?

“If ever I see gelato, I always take stracciatell. It’s my No. 1,” she explained, leaning forward in her seat. “I like to mix it with like, a double chocolate or something like this. It’s a super sweet mix. If I’ve already eaten something sweet that day, then I’ll have it in a cup, but if not, then a cone!”

And now you know Andreeva’s reward should she defeat Badosa in Campo Centrale’s second match on Tuesday.