Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Mirra Andreeva

Press Conference

M. ANDREEVA/E. Rybakina

6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Mirra, you seemed to be pretty in control the whole time. Is that how it felt to you?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yeah, today was a great match. I knew that it's going to be tough, but I just try to go on court and do my best, so I'm just super happy with my win today and can't wait to play my next round here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Mirra, do you still surprise yourself when you're on court with some of the points that you play, some of the results that you get?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: I would say that sometimes, yes, I am surprised with the shot that I hit during the match, and, you know, it feels good when sometimes I don't expect myself to, I don't know, to hit a great shot.

So, yeah, sometimes it happens on the court, and I can tell that it feels great. Most of the time, of course, I know what to expect from myself, but sometimes there are matches and there are points where, you know, I can hit a shot that is amazing and I will be like, wow, I can do this. That's great. Sometimes it can happen.

Q. You're pretty new on the scene, whereas Rybakina has won this tournament before. But you seemed to have a lot of support in the crowd. Can you say a few words about the support you have here in Indian Wells and where you think that comes from, how people have gotten to know you so quickly?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yeah, I don't know why people are supporting me this much, because honestly, when I was playing in U.S., my results were not great. You know, last year here I lost in the first round. At the US Open, twice I lost in the second round. So I don't know why people are supporting a lot for me, but no, it feels great.

Yeah, they stayed until the end of our match, and they were still supporting tonight, as well. It's pretty late and it's pretty cold outside, so, you know, for me, it feels amazing because I know that sometimes when you play a late match, people, you know, they don't really want to stay and watch the match when it's cold and late outside.

I don't know why, but I have a lot of people that are supporting me, and I don't know, something about United States is people are so energetic, and when I play a match and some people are supporting me, I just kind of feel their energy. It kind of lights me up a little bit, and after, it's actually a bit easier to play, as well.

Q. With these long tournaments, you have an off day tomorrow. When you're playing this well, how hard is it to not want to play the next day? I mean, you're young. You probably have a lot of energy for tomorrow. On the off days, like what are you doing? Are you wanting to get back out there and play another match?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: If you would ask me this question a couple of months ago, I would say yes, but now I'm good. Now I'm happy that there are tournaments that last two weeks (smiling).

It's nice to have a day off in between matches, because, for example now it's pretty late. You know, I would be going home. It would be, I don't know, midnight maybe, and then it would take some time to go to sleep.

Yeah, now I would say it's nice to have a day off to really take my time, to come back, to practice, and then to do massage, recovery, and then to go back to the hotel, not rush, chill, relax.

Now I like all that. So me, you know, sometimes there are tournaments where you have to play every day, and, you know, I'm also okay with that. Yeah, I guess I'm still young and I have a lot of energy, but it's nice to have a day off.

Q. Your next match is against Elina Svitolina. You haven't played before. How familiar are you with her game, having watched her? What are you going to do to prepare for that specific match?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yeah, I have never played her, and I saw her, of course, playing a lot of matches on the Grand Slams, on the WTA tournaments when I was not on the tour yet.

So I know that she's a fighter, she runs for every ball. Now she's also playing a little bit more aggressive.

But all the small details is Conchita's job to prepare me. I hope that she's going to do well, so yeah, that's the only thing I know.

After, I'm going to ask Conchita if she knows something.

Q. When you were watching her and you were still a junior, was there a part of you that was like, I'm going to play you one day? I can take you?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: I remember in 2019, 2020, '21, I don't remember, on some US Open, she was playing against Simona Halep, and that was the match that it was my first match that I watched live, and we came and I was watching their match and I was, like, yes, I'm going to play here one day. Okay, I don't know with who, but I'm going to play on this stadium. And I think they played on -- what is it? Louis Armstrong Stadium. So I was, like, yes, I'm going to play here.

But I never thought if I'm going to play her or no. I just remembered that I wanted to play on that stadium, and I haven't yet, but I hope maybe this year I will.

Q. She's also from Ukraine and she's very outspoken about the war. Is it challenging for you -- I'm sure you have played other players from Ukraine, although I don't remember the specific matches -- is that challenging at all when that is there? You know there is not going to be a handshake after? It could be awkward. I know you don't have any control over these world events, but it's there, isn't it?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yeah, of course it's not easy, but, you know, I have played maybe, I don't know, four or five matches against Ukrainian players.

And me, I just try not to think about it. I just try to focus on my game, to do my routines, to prepare myself that it's not going to be easy.

Yeah, I'm just going to try to prepare for this match as for every other match, and nothing's going to change for me. So yeah, I'm just going to do my routines and stick to what I have been doing a week before.