Melbourne, Australia–when mira andreeva won Adelaide titles last weekendIt didn’t take him long to find out that three of the four previous winners of that title had won the Australian Open in the same year. This includes madison keysWho was a surprise champion in Melbourne 12 months ago.
“Yes, I know [about it],” she told ESPN in an interview at Melbourne Park after winning their first-round match on Monday. “I’m trying not to think about it because we’re different people, different players. “I’m trying to keep my mind off it.”
Andreeva entered the third round after defeating the former world No. 3 here on Wednesday Maria Sakkari6-0, 6-4. But her reluctance to think about an Adelaide-Australian Open double may stem from the fact that until recently, she was one of the more superstitious players on Tour.
“Sometimes I can get really crazy,” she said. “Like, eating the same thing, waking up at the same time, doing everything at the same time. But then in Adelaide, I deliberately broke the routine to see what would happen. And nothing bad happened. So after that, I’m not going to waste my time doing things like that.”
Arina Sabalenka, inga swiatek And coco goff She remains the favorite for the title this year but Andreeva is making rapid progress. Three years earlier, she had lost in the final of the girls’ event at the Australian Open; Now, after a year in which she won two WTA 1000 titles and reached quarterfinals at the French Open and Wimbledon, she is the No. 8 seed and, it seems, headed for a last-eight showdown against Gauff.
Expectations bring pressure, but Andreeva seems able to handle it now. He is less likely to explode on the court or lose his concentration as he has in the past, as he showed in recovering from a set loss Donna Vekic In the first round.
She said, it was difficult to deal with the pressure at first, but now she is learning how to cope with all the expectations placed on her shoulders. She admitted, “I feel like at first, it was a little hard for me, because it was all new to me and I didn’t really know if it was normal or what to do with it.” “But now, with time, a lot of things have started happening with Conchita too [Martinez, her coach]Who are very experienced coaches and also very experienced players, with my psychologist, with my team… I just know that it is normal. There’s going to be pressure on me to save points or save the title or whatever comes to my mind [but] I just have to learn how to accept it and play with it. And that’s all.”
Martínez has been a key figure in reaching the top 10. The former Wimbledon champion seems just as relaxed off the court as Andreeva – the pair were even spotted chasing each other through the corridors of Melbourne Park before her match with Sakkari. Quiet but organized and a top tactician, Martínez helped garbine muguruza Won Wimbledon in 2017 and spent two years coaching Karolina Pliskova.
“I think our personalities are similar because we both strive for the same things,” Andreeva said. “Off the court, we love to joke around and have a lot of fun and at the same time, we both understand that when we come to the site or we go out on the court, you can have fun on the practice court too, but it’s about how to work on something, how to improve what we’re working on. And we know that line where it’s time to stop having fun and make jokes and it’s time to actually work. I think that’s what That’s why it works so well.”
Andreeva is known for her on-court interviews, which are worth the price of a ticket alone. “I can say I’ve been like this my whole life,” she said. “I love to joke around and I love to tease people. It’s just me. It’s just me, my personality just goes so far.”
Andreeva plays elena-gabriella ruse Romania in the third round on Friday. While a Grand Slam title is Andreeva’s stated goal, she also wants to stay away from serious injury.
“I would say that first of all, my goal would be to stay healthy, play freely without any pain,” she said. “And at the same time I enjoy every match I play, and learn new things. My goal will be to improve every day as a tennis player and as a human being. And then I think if I do everything well, if I do everything the right way, then maybe good things will come. I hope so.”
