DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

February 15, 2026

Mirra Andreeva

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Dubai. Returning as defending champion. How are you feeling?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: I'm actually very excited to come back here again and play in front of the people here. I love this tournament. Obviously I have great memories from last year, so I just can't wait for the tournament to start.

THE MODERATOR: Who would like to start?

Q. Talk us through the excitement of coming back and are you keeping the high expectations again?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, I cannot say for sure if I'm going to be able to defend the title or not, because obviously it's a new year, new tournament. But I'm just super excited to play here.

Obviously I'm going to do everything I can to try and defend the title because this is the first time I come to the tournament as a defending champion. It's also something new for me.

Yeah, I can't wait to play my first match here and we will see how it goes.

Q. Does the goal stay the same or you have new goals this year?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, I think my goal is just going to be to try and improve as a player and as a person off the court and on the court, as well.

I'm obviously going to try to win tournaments. My goal also is to be at the WTA Finals as a singles player 'cause, yeah, last year was a little bit tricky. Elena obviously played great, won so many matches, she got more points than me. In the end she actually won the tournament. For me, I was not as sad as I could have been.

Yeah, for me I would maybe focus on try and be in WTA Finals in Riyadh as a singles player.

Q. Obviously coming off a really close loss to Vicky in Doha. Talk about how you're able to take that and shift the mindset to defend your title.

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yeah, that match was something. I think we both played great. Especially the third set was very close. Both of us, I felt like we had some ups and downs throughout the match. I felt like the third set, we both brought the very good level of tennis.

It was very interesting to play against her. I caught myself that I was actually feeling a lot of adrenaline, a lot of excitement in the third set during the match. That doesn't happen often. I actually enjoyed the match a lot.

Yeah, I don't lose a lot of matches from having a match point also, so that was also a little bit tricky to handle after the match. She ended up playing the finals. She didn't win the tournament, but I felt like she's the one player that she was playing in the finals, so she obviously is one of the good players that were left in the tournament. If I were to lose, I don't mind losing to someone who would be playing the final.

Yeah, that was a tough, tricky match. Now I have to focus on what's going to happen here and my matches in Dubai. We lose every week. It's just important on how you handle those losses and how you head into the next tournament.

Q. You turned pro at a young age. How do you balance between your private life and career?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, for me I wouldn't say that it's something difficult because I'm still pretty young. I always travel with my family. For me it's not as difficult as I would have imagined maybe for some players like Aryna. I think that she's maybe three times more famous, maybe even four times more famous. I think for her it's maybe a little bit more difficult.

For me, I'm just focusing on how to play tournaments. Then when I have my free time, I just like to stay with my family and spend some time with them. I have a good balance with that. For now, that's what I'm sticking to.

Q. So many Russian fans coming to the stadium last year. Do you expect the same sort of support this time?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, last year there were so many people watching the match. I felt a lot of support. I felt like people were also very fair to the both players, which is very nice to experience when you play in the final of a big tournament because usually maybe people kind of split, maybe they support one player more than the other in some countries, in some tournaments. Here I felt like both of us received so much support.

Yeah, the memories from last year's final are amazing. I remember them to this day. I'll try my best to repeat that and experience maybe more or less the same kind of memories.

Q. Did you think maybe to bring something else to your team? Conchita is a great coach...

MIRRA ANDREEVA: As for now, no. I think she's pretty good at doing her job. For now I think if this works, we're just going to keep it as it is. I think we make a great team together. For now, we're just going to stay like this.

Q. You spoke about the fame for Aryna, four times more famous. After what happened last year, coming back as the champion, does it feel different? Do you feel more in focus, in the spotlight?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: I felt that compared to last year, obviously now people that maybe are staying here because they see faces of players, they recognize me more.

I don't mind. I kind of like the attention from people, from media. Yeah, I don't mind when that happens. Of course, the media, it also feels special when I came to the hotel and I saw my face. It's just nice to see that. That also kind of gives me more motivation to try and play well here and maybe to try and defend the title. When I come next year, my face is there again.

Yeah, it was really nice to see (smiling).

Q. Does that make you feel like you can be more of a motivation for younger athletes? The love and support you get from people around you, the social media, is all that motivation as well?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yes, of course to me it adds a lot of motivation when I see so much support from other players or my fans or media, as well, because that also gives me motivation to try and do better so I have more of that support, more of the attention. Yeah, it kind of works well together.

So yeah, I don't know if I'm kind of the example for younger generation, younger kids, because I feel that I'm still a younger generation myself (smiling). To me it's also a little bit weird to think that I could be, like, an example of someone else because I'm still also pretty young.

It's a little bit weird, but yeah, it's just nice. I feel nice. It feels nice when I think of maybe I'm the example of some younger kids that are coming up the tour. Yeah, that's it.