Andy Roddick has made a prediction about Mirra Andreeva’s future after watching her reach the Roland Garros final.
It has been a near-flawless run from the Russian sensation, who has excelled over the last two weeks. At no point has she really seemed to be in any trouble.
However, Maja Chwalinska will seek to change that on Saturday, when the two face off in the most unlikely of finals.
Regardless of what happens in that showdown, Andy Roddick’s claims about Mirra Andreeva will remain very true.
This is just the beginning for her.
Andy Roddick has noticed a huge Mirra Andreeva improvement at Roland Garros
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the pundit had nothing but praise for Andreeva after she handily dismissed Marta Kostyuk in the semi-finals.
Many were tipping this to be a close, hard-fought encounter between two in-form players. In the end, it was anything but.
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The 19-year-old dominated from the very first ball, spurring Roddick to state: “She is so young. She is going to be a problem for a lot of people for a long time.”
He then delved into what makes her so dangerous: “She is serving great. She is strong. When you look at her now, two years ago you felt people might be able to go through her all the time, but she is really strong and able to play with that variety. She has been the best player in this tournament from start to finish.
“The story that tells me is yes, she has been playing great, but she also played a very heavy clay court special. She did not play well in Miami and Indian Wells; obviously the strategy was to load up on clay and find some form, and guess what? She found it.
“It was so straightforward [against Kostyuk] there is not even much to dissect. First ball to last ball, she was getting the patterns she wanted, she was getting it out of Kostyuk’s zone, she was making her move into the court and out of the court.”
Roddick finished by praising Andreeva’s mental improvement: “She does not seem to be fighting herself quite as much, which could just be youth. Roger Federer claims he used to be a bit of a nutcase on the court; I never saw that, but apparently it’s true. Andreeva went nuts at Indian Wells, but we have not seen any of that. Maybe it’s lesson learned! This feels like an arrival.”
Venus Williams has predicted who she thinks will win between Andreeva and Chwalinska, in what is one of the tougher finals to call.
When was the last time two players who had never won a Grand Slam before reached a major final?
It is not often that we get to Grand Slam finals and know we are guaranteed a brand-new champion at this level.
However, on both Saturday and Sunday, that is what we will get.
After all, with so many shock exits on both the men’s and women’s side, the draws have been blown wide open. Aryna Sabalenka’s defeat earlier this week marked the final straw in this regard, confirming this phenomenon once again.
To remember the last time this happened, you would have to go back over three years, when Marketa Vondrousova beat Ons Jabeur in the 2023 Wimbledon final.
Then, if we were to find the last time that two players who had never even reached a Grand Slam final before had faced off at that stage, that would take you back to the 2021 US Open final between Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez.
Andreeva and Chwalinska have already made history with their respective runs, but only one can emerge victorious.
