Mirra Andreeva could now have her sights set on reaching the summit of the WTA rankings.
Andreeva won Roland Garros last week, beating qualifier Maja Chwalinska to claim her first Grand Slam title at just 19 years old.
This enabled Andreeva to climb two spots up to world number six, which is one away from her previous career-high of world number five.
Andreeva’s coach Conchita Martinez was asked about the world number one ranking, and while the Spaniard did not want to make any bold claims, Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, has.
Brad Gilbert backs Mirra Andreeva to become world number one this year
Gilbert spoke about Andreeva in the latest edition of The Big T Podcast, as he backed her to overtake Aryna Sabalenka as the world number one.
Andreeva was also predicted to challenge for the US Open title later this year, despite having not surpassed the third round in New York before.
“I think she has a really good chance, believe it or not, to finish 2026 as the number one player in the world,” said Gilbert. “And I think she has a legitimate shot to winning one of the next two Grand Slams.
“She conquered her demons in Paris and full credit to her team, they sat her down after the third round because of her attitude. They didn’t like how she was acting on court. And then she had this little epiphany about watching a [Roger] Federer match, I need to act better. That’s been the missing part of her game is how she controls herself in the game.
“I think her serve has improved a lot and she’s starting to flatten out the forehand, so would not be surprised if she had a deep run here. I might even say she has a really good shot, to be in the top three to four favourites for the [US] Open. But I’m going to make a bold prediction, I think she finishes 2026 number one in the world.”
How many Grand Slams does Mirra Andreeva win in her career? 🏆
How many ranking points is Mirra Andreeva behind Aryna Sabalenka?
Sabalenka has been world number one for 86 consecutive weeks, since October 2024, and 94 weeks across her two spells at the summit of the WTA rankings.
The Belarusian has been the dominant force in women’s tennis, but Sabalenka’s reign could now be under threat after her relatively disappointing clay court season.
Sabalenka leads world number two Elena Rybakina by 947 points, and she has an even greater lead over world number six Andreeva, who she is ahead of by 3,339 points.
However, the WTA rankings are somewhat misleading, as Andreeva actually leads the race to the WTA Finals, which only includes points earned in 2026 and means that she is currently forecast to end the year as the world number one.
Andreeva only has 835 ranking points to defend until 2027, which is more than Sabalenka is defending in just the grass court season, as she has another 4,580 points to defend in total this year.
| WTA Rankings | Ranking Point total | Position in the race to the WTA Finals |
| 1. Aryna Sabalenka | 9,090 | 2nd |
| 2. Elena Rybakina | 8,143 | 3rd |
| 3. Iga Swiatek | 6,733 | 11th |
| 4. Jessica Pegula | 6,056 | 5th |
| 5. Amanda Anisimova | 5,848 | 17th |
| 6. Mirra Andreeva | 5,751 | 1st |
| 7. Coco Gauff | 4,879 | 6th |
| 8. Elina Svitolina | 4,315 | 4th |
This means that the race for world number one is likely to hot up during the grass court season, but Andreeva will not play at the Berlin Open after withdrawing from the WTA 500 tournament where Sabalenka is the top seed.
Instead, Andreeva is just scheduled to play at the Bad Homburg Open ahead of Wimbledon this year.
