Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the sit Down. I'm viv Christie,
Speaker 1: Managing editor for Australian Tennis magazine.
Speaker 2: And I'm Metrolop, a writer and editor for ozopen dot
Speaker 2: Com and Viv where diving back into the archives this week.
Speaker 2: Why are we bringing back this episode with Mira Andreva.
Speaker 1: Well, it was a great time to revisit our chat
Speaker 1: with Mira Andreva, who has recently been crowned the Roland
Speaker 1: Garross Women's Champion. So it was a fascinating interview at
Speaker 1: the time, speaking to a seventeen year old mirror just
Speaker 1: before Wimbledon two years ago. She'd only just turned seventeen
Speaker 1: but already was showing some incredible signs of becoming a
Speaker 1: Grand Slam champion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so a few weeks before that she'd had her
Speaker 2: Grand Slam breakthrough. Then at Roland Garross she upset Sabalinka
Speaker 2: and made her first Slam semi final. But it was
Speaker 2: really interesting when we were bringing this episode back. I
Speaker 2: looked at where she was in July twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: She was still outside the top twenty, she'd never won
Speaker 2: a WTA title, and just after this interview she went
Speaker 2: on to win her first WTO title. In Romania are
Speaker 2: two point fifty and it's incredible to think that in
Speaker 2: the two years since then she's gone on to win
Speaker 2: basically at every level. She's won five hundred, she's won
Speaker 2: a couple of WTA thousands, and now she's won at
Speaker 2: Roland Garross and also not long after this interview she
Speaker 2: won an Olympic silver medal. So just phenomenal what she
Speaker 2: has achieved in such a short space of time. And
Speaker 2: from world number twenty three when you chatted to her,
Speaker 2: she's now cracked the top five and you know, seemingly
Speaker 2: onto bigger and better things. So it's just amazing to
Speaker 2: reflect where she was at the time and when she's
Speaker 2: come to now.
Speaker 1: Mira, thank you for your time today. It's great to
Speaker 1: have you as a guest on the sit down. I
Speaker 1: wonder if you could start by sharing with our listeners
Speaker 1: how you had your start in tennis.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: I started playing tennis when I was six years old,
Speaker 4: but I spent like three years before in the tennis
Speaker 4: court because my older sister she started playing as well.
Speaker 3: She will she started when she was.
Speaker 4: Around five, and so yeah, since I'm three years old,
Speaker 4: I've been spending some time on a tennis court. But
Speaker 4: I wish I would have started earlier, but I remember
Speaker 4: that I couldn't hold a racket in my hand. It
Speaker 4: was too heavy and it would just keep falling down.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I started when I was six. I started
Speaker 4: in Siberia, in Krasnoyarsk, is the city where we come from,
Speaker 4: and yeah, that's basically it. After we moved to south
Speaker 4: of Russia the city named Sochi, and since then we
Speaker 4: lived there for five six years and after now we
Speaker 4: live in Khan for I don't know, almost three years now.
Speaker 1: Already you started with when you were six, as you say,
Speaker 1: and now you're seventeen, so that's barely ten years. And
Speaker 1: in that time you've had wins over top ten opponents
Speaker 1: including your idol on Jibur, and reached the semifinals at Rollandaros.
Speaker 1: Does it ever feel like a bit of a dream?
Speaker 4: At first, it did, and it still feels like a dream,
Speaker 4: of course, because I've been watching these tournaments when I
Speaker 4: was a kid on a TV having my breakfast. Before
Speaker 4: I was I would go to school, so of course
Speaker 4: it feels like a dream to me to be here
Speaker 4: and play all these tournaments.
Speaker 3: But now I.
Speaker 4: Already get used to this a little bit. I start to,
Speaker 4: you know, feel the atmosphere more, and I start to
Speaker 4: kind of feel like I start.
Speaker 3: To belong here. It's not like.
Speaker 4: I'm new anymore and like new surprise or something. And yeah,
Speaker 4: that felt like a dream. But now I get used
Speaker 4: to this a little bit more and it just feels
Speaker 4: like my life.
Speaker 1: Now you're joining us at Winbooden. When you reached the
Speaker 1: fourth round last year as a qualifier, how have you
Speaker 1: changed as both a plier and as a person since then.
Speaker 4: Let's say as a player, I changed. I think I
Speaker 4: became more aggressive and I know what I want on court.
Speaker 4: It's not like I just go there and play and
Speaker 4: try to enjoy and just win as many games as
Speaker 4: I can. Just now I go and I know what
Speaker 4: I want and I know what I also need, if
Speaker 4: I can say need. So yeah, I think that as
Speaker 4: a player, I became more kind of a straightforward and
Speaker 4: I feel like this not helps me, but this is
Speaker 4: a bit of next level for me, a bit of
Speaker 4: an upgrade. Yeah. And as a person, yeah, a bit
Speaker 4: more mature, as I said once and.
Speaker 3: Just and that's it.
Speaker 4: Actually I'm still the same as I was last year,
Speaker 4: maybe a bit more yeah, mature, and I don't say
Speaker 4: some crazy stuff anymore, but still the same old mirror.
Speaker 1: In your upgrade as a player, as you call it.
Speaker 1: You reached the semi finals of Roland Garross. You had
Speaker 1: wins there over Victoria Azarenka and Arena Sablenka. How do
Speaker 1: you look back on that experience?
Speaker 4: Of course, looking back to that, it feels amazing, especially
Speaker 4: if we start with the second round match against Azarenka,
Speaker 4: A little thriller there. I knew, I mean Grand Slam champion,
Speaker 4: she has won a lot of tournaments, she has a
Speaker 4: lot of experience, and I just went on court and
Speaker 4: I was like, well, mirror, you gotta do your best
Speaker 4: to beat her. And I felt like I did more
Speaker 4: than my best and it was an amazing match. We
Speaker 4: finished at one am. It was the latest finish of
Speaker 4: my career, and looking back to that, I'm really really
Speaker 4: really happy about that, and that much I think I'm
Speaker 4: gonna remember it for a very very long time. And
Speaker 4: of course much against Saballenka is also kind of a
Speaker 4: thriller for me. But unfortunately I didn't really have time
Speaker 4: to enjoy the moment when I was in Paris because
Speaker 4: we finished pretty late and then next day I had
Speaker 4: a semi final to play, so I didn't really have
Speaker 4: time to enjoy the moment there. But after I took
Speaker 4: some time to just realize and understand what happened. But
Speaker 4: yet now it doesn't seem to me like a surprise.
Speaker 4: I mean, of course, was a tough match. She had
Speaker 4: some I don't know, trouble with something, probably her stomach,
Speaker 4: and it was hard for me to play because she
Speaker 4: called the phisio a few times and it's always hard
Speaker 4: to keep your focus on a game. So yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: just happy about that win, and uh yeah, happy about
Speaker 4: everything that I did during French Open.
Speaker 1: And you're a very artistic and creative player. You're known
Speaker 1: for being very intelligent on court. That draws a lot
Speaker 1: of comparisons with Martina Hingers. How do you feel when
Speaker 1: you're compared to Martina Hingers?
Speaker 4: Well, I like that it's not a bad compare not
Speaker 4: a bad compaiment comparison. Yes, okay, so yeah, I like that.
Speaker 4: I like that people see a bit of same kind
Speaker 4: of game between us because I when I was younger,
Speaker 4: I wanted to play like her because I felt like
Speaker 4: we have a pretty much same a game style, but
Speaker 4: she was kind of.
Speaker 3: More aggressive than me. Me.
Speaker 4: I would like play the point and build the point
Speaker 4: until the last moment on the baseline until the girl
Speaker 4: is there they're running, and me I would just finish
Speaker 4: the point, and her, I feel like she she goes
Speaker 4: for it and she tries to finish the ball at
Speaker 4: the net and she's more aggressive. But yeah, it's it's
Speaker 4: really nice that people compare us and they say some stuff.
Speaker 4: They see the same game style, and yeah that I
Speaker 4: like that. It's not bad, you know, if people compare
Speaker 4: it to a Grand Slam champion. So yeah, it's it's
Speaker 4: nice to hear.
Speaker 1: It's it's thirty years since your coach Conchitta mount One
Speaker 1: Wimbood And what has she told you about that time.
Speaker 4: First, of course, she's she's having a bit of a
Speaker 4: flashbacks this trip, and yeah, we've talked a little bit
Speaker 4: about that. And I watched the final with her, she said,
Speaker 4: So I put on the video from YouTube, her final
Speaker 4: against Nevratilova, and she's like, no, no, no, don't watch
Speaker 4: this this moment start from this score in the second set.
Speaker 4: I was like, uh huh, okay, And of course I
Speaker 4: put the moment that she didn't want on purpose. But yeah,
Speaker 4: she of course tells me about the way she played,
Speaker 4: but I feel like she doesn't really like to talk
Speaker 4: about it because maybe she doesn't want to feel old
Speaker 4: comfare to me. I don't know, but yeah, sometimes I
Speaker 4: just ask her how did.
Speaker 3: It feel like? And what did you do there? And
Speaker 3: what do you do then?
Speaker 4: And yeah, she shares some experience and emotions with me,
Speaker 4: and it's really really nice to hear what she was
Speaker 4: going through that time. And yeah, she's gonna play Legends
Speaker 4: Mixed doubles and she said, don't you ever come to
Speaker 4: my match? I was like, why, but I want to
Speaker 4: support you. She's like, no, I don't want to see
Speaker 4: you there. And so it'll be on a second week.
Speaker 4: I hope I'm still gonna be here, and I have
Speaker 4: a plan. I'm gonna prepare a piece of paper, a
Speaker 4: huge piece of paper. I will write con Chita Martinez,
Speaker 4: let's go, and I will go to her match and
Speaker 4: I will waive this piece of paper that said like
Speaker 4: that she can see me and I will be her
Speaker 4: number one fan. So yeah, that will be nice if
Speaker 4: we're still gonna be here.
Speaker 1: That speaks a lot about the strength of your relationship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've reached the second week of the Australian Open. When
Speaker 1: and Roland Garros every Grand Slam surface, which one do
Speaker 1: you must love to play on?
Speaker 4: Well, that's actually really hard question. Before I would say
Speaker 4: clay right away, but now I when I play on hardcourt,
Speaker 4: I miss clay court so much. But when I play
Speaker 4: on clay court, I want to go back on hardcore
Speaker 4: because yeah, just like the sound when somebody plays on hardcourt.
Speaker 4: But when I play on on on heart or on clay,
Speaker 4: I want to go on grass because I really like
Speaker 4: the sound when the people play and when they move
Speaker 4: on court.
Speaker 3: It's so soft.
Speaker 4: And it actually depends but yeah, I don't even have
Speaker 4: a favorite service actually because it also depends on a
Speaker 4: time and on how I feel. So yeah, it's a
Speaker 4: really complicated question for me, but I would say that
Speaker 4: I love them all.
Speaker 1: Are you still studying and do you still high chemistry?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yes, I still study, but now luckily we have
Speaker 4: summer holidays at school. Yeah, and I still don't really
Speaker 4: like chemistry because well that's really hard for me to
Speaker 4: understand and I don't really have time to really go
Speaker 4: into it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, probably when after. I don't know.
Speaker 4: Maybe when I finished my career, I will be like
Speaker 4: forty forty three. Maybe then I will have a wish
Speaker 4: and desire to go and study chemistry, But I don't
Speaker 4: think so. So yeah, I'm still studying and luckily I
Speaker 4: don't have to do anything now anymore.
Speaker 1: When we talked earlier in the year at Brisbane and
Speaker 1: you were reading Gone with the Wind at the time,
Speaker 1: are you still.
Speaker 4: Reading, I'm reading second part. Yes, so don't tell me
Speaker 4: what's gonna happen. But yeah, I enjoy reading sometimes. It
Speaker 4: really helps me to put some nervous moments aside and
Speaker 4: to focus. And I when I read, I have I
Speaker 4: think I have a pretty good imagination. So when I read,
Speaker 4: I have like pictures and everything in my head, and
Speaker 4: I imagine that I'm there and I'm reading and just
Speaker 4: looking at them kind of like I'm with them.
Speaker 3: So yes, I sometimes I really like to read.
Speaker 4: And this is a very very good book and I
Speaker 4: really really like it, so yes, hopefully I can finish
Speaker 4: it soon.
Speaker 1: And you've achieved such a lot in such a short
Speaker 1: amount of time. What's what's your tennis dream?
Speaker 4: Well, of course, I think if you ask every tennis player.
Speaker 4: They will say that their tennis dream probably to be
Speaker 4: number one and to win a Slam, or to win Olympics.
Speaker 4: But me, I would say that after I finished my career,
Speaker 4: I just want to be remembered for a very very
Speaker 4: long time, and I want to be remembered as a
Speaker 4: champion and as a player who never never give up,
Speaker 4: as a player who people look up to. And I
Speaker 4: would say that this is one of my dreams that
Speaker 4: I really want to accomplish and I really want them
Speaker 4: to happen.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, that would be awesome.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, You're already so far into achieving that,
Speaker 1: So thank you for your time today and good luck.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I wasn't that fascinating to look back, you know, she
Speaker 1: was already at seventeen, having just turned seventeen. She was
Speaker 1: already feeling such a sense of belonging at the top
Speaker 1: of the game. And it was interesting when, you know,
Speaker 1: we asked her tennis dream, and it wasn't to become
Speaker 1: a Grand Slam champion. It was to be remembered as
Speaker 1: a player who never gives up and people look up too.
Speaker 1: So I think she's already achieved her tennis dream.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And she said something almost exactly the same as that.
Speaker 2: Two years on, after she won Roland Garross, there was
Speaker 2: the story about how she'd worked with her psychologist to
Speaker 2: work on her on court demeanor and how she looked
Speaker 2: up to Roger Federer and the serene aura he brought
Speaker 2: to the court, and she said she made an active
Speaker 2: and conscious decision to show up the right way on
Speaker 2: the court and choose how she behaves on the court
Speaker 2: and how she approaches matches, and the quote was, so
Speaker 2: I just decided to choose to be a fighter. So
Speaker 2: that is that mental approach is carrying on all these
Speaker 2: years later, and it's taken her to the very top.
Speaker 3: Of the sport.
Speaker 1: Amazing to see.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll be back again next week with another episode
Speaker 2: of The sit Down. It's going to be a special
Speaker 2: one where we bring you a best of Wimbledon episode.
Speaker 2: So over the course of two years of our podcast,
Speaker 2: we've had lots of guests talk about their Wimbledon memories
Speaker 2: and we're going to bring you a snapshot of all
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 1: Please remember to subscribe to The sit Down so you
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Speaker 1: us a rating and review. See you next week.
Speaker 3: Matt see you then Viv