THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2025

Mirra Andreeva

Press Conference

M. ANDREEVA/M. Sherif

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You're doing well at the net today I felt like. What do you practice most going from clay to grass, and is the net game at the top of that list?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Honestly I was a little bit surprised with my level, my volleys also today. I felt like every time I was going to the net, every time I was sure that I would hit a great volley, so I don't know why I felt like this today, but I felt like it brought me a lot of free points.

So, yeah, we've been practicing a lot to improve my volleys and overall my net game. That's why I always play a lot of doubles. Finally I think that maybe the work is paying off a little bit. So, yeah, that's what we've been working on for last few months.

Q. I'm from Egypt, so I'm going to ask you about your opponent. What did you make of how she played today?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: I've never played her, never practiced with her. I never really saw how she played. So it was tricky. I was just hoping that Conchita would give me good advices about her game.

Yeah, I honestly didn't know how she would play, but I felt like she had a great serve. She had a really good and fast groundstroke. My goal was just kind of to stay low and just try and play my game and be aggressive.

But I think that she played great, and I'm happy also that I won today. It was a pretty tricky first round for me.

Q. You were coming off some tough losses in Paris and Berlin. I was wondering how you and Conchita recovered from that, how you decompressed, and what you did to reset?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: We had a lot of talks and conversations. But you know, you play tournaments every week. It's not possible that you win every tournament. So you just learn how to deal with losses. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's harder.

For example, at the French Open it was super hard to recover. It took me a couple of days, but I took a lot of positives from those weeks. In Berlin it was also tough, but a little bit easier already. It didn't take me as much time as in Paris. So I guess I'm also making progress in that.

But here just learn how to deal faster with losses. I think that it also depends on how you lose and which tournament. But yeah, we just had a lot of conversations.

In the end we just took a lot of positives from all the weeks that I've played before.

Q. I've been talking to a lot of the top players about the idea of being delusional. Do you know what delusional is? Some like Naomi Osaka, for example, said one of the big things for her growing up was she's always been delusional about her dreams, and that's why she actually made it. Can you relate to that at all? You're someone who succeeded from a young age, but were you like that at all?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: I don't know. Maybe. Maybe when I was younger, yes, but then after I was just kind of -- after my mindset changed a little bit because, of course, I wanted to win a lot and to achieve great things, but then after I started to play on tour, I was just approaching every match with, you know, trying to enjoy the game. I think that's what brought me here.

Every match that I played since the beginning, I was just trying to win every point, just to run for every point, put as many balls on the court as I can. But the most important is to just have fun and enjoy. I think that for me that's what was the key.

I don't know if I can really relate to that. Maybe a little bit, but I don't think that I can relate to that like a lot.

Q. I feel the flip side of that is when Rafa Nadal would speak, he would say, I have so many doubts. That's why he succeeded because it's almost the opposite of that. Do you relate to that, or are you in the middle?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Kind of in the middle. I can say, of course, I also have a lot of doubts, and it also depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing amazing, and I just go for my shots. Of course, sometimes there are days where I doubt every shot that I hit.

I'm kind of in the middle. I guess maybe I'm still learning and still searching what's best, but I'm kind of, yeah, in the middle between these two.

Q. You've spoken in the past after Indian Wells after beating Sabalenka and Swiatek back-to-back, you were talking about watching a LeBron James interview where he mentioned about the mental prowess kind of overtaking the physical suffering. How much do you look at and study sporting greats, whether it be specifically tennis or whether it be just of other sports as well, such as LeBron James, as I know that you are an ambitious player even though you are taking it match-by-match and also just enjoying as well?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: It also depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like I have the tools that I need to feel good mentally on the court, but sometimes I feel like there are days that I need to maybe overprepare myself to kind of, I don't know, have some quotes of some, I don't know, tennis players or some basketball players or football players.

So sometimes I just search what, I don't know, certain person said about this. If I like what he said and I feel like I can relate to this, then I just put it in my notebook, and it's always there with me, as I did with Indian Wells with LeBron James' quote.

I have a few more, but for now I'm going to focus on them being in my notebook. Maybe after this tournament I will share some.

Q. Talking of your notebook, in Indian Wells you had notes on all of your opponents. Are you still doing that, and how big is the book now?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: The book is almost finished, so I think that this is one of the last tournaments that my notebook can handle.

Yeah, I, again, do the same thing. I prepare the same way for every match I play. Doesn't matter which tournament or against who I'm playing, it's always the same preparation. I think that maybe soon, maybe at this tournament, I will just have to buy a new one, because that one is almost over.