It was another tearful Grand Slam exit for Mirra Andreeva today, as she exited Wimbledon in just the second round in her first event as a major champion.
As a hugely emotional individual, many hoped that winning Roland Garros might free her up from the demons that have haunted her in recent years and resulted in some rather dramatic meltdowns.
However, they reared their ugly heads once again today against Barbora Krejčíková, with the Russian fighting back tears and striking herself with the racket once again.
It’s never a pretty sight, and that emotion was carried into her press conference. Andreeva broke down into tears as she attempted to dissect this early defeat at Wimbledon.
Emotional Mirra Andreeva speaks after losing early at Wimbledon
It might seem ironic that the first question of the press conference sought to find out more about her current emotions.
She attempted to answer, admitting: “Well, I think of course I’m going to need a couple days.”
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However, her sentence was cut short as she covered her face to hide the tears.
Andreeva continued: “Sorry. Yeah, it’s going to take some time, maybe a couple of days, and then I’m going to be back to practice for hard courts. I don’t know what my next tournaments are going to be. I still need to talk to my team to see where I’m going to play next.”
Then asked about the harshness of her draw, forced to face two-time major champion Krejčíková in just the second round, Andreeva stated: “I think she played well today.
“She’s a tricky opponent, especially to play against her on grass. She changes the rhythm a lot. The slices and dropshots, here they stay low, they don’t bounce. I’ve had some trouble with that, as well.
“A lot of mistakes today also. Yeah, she played well, but I felt like I could have also played better. That’s it.”
Andreeva had claimed she wanted to be drawn against Serena Williams before the tournament began. Perhaps that stance might be even stronger now after this defeat.
Every woman player who has ever won the Channel Slam
In losing Wimbledon, Andreeva has failed to take up the opportunity to join an exclusive and legendary list to have completed the Channel Slam: winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back.
In fact, only six women in the history of the sport have ever done so before.
Margaret Court was the first, doing so in 1970. Billie Jean King followed suit just two years later.
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Another two years passed, and we saw another woman complete this feat, this time Chris Evert.
Her great rival and friend Martina Navratilova had to wait some time before she could join such an illustrious group, but when she did in 1982, she completed it again in 1984.
Steffi Graf, who was the overwhelmingly dominant player of her era, did it on four occasions, with Serena Williams also managing it twice.
