MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 30, 2026

Mirra Andreeva

Press Conference

M. ANDREEVA/H. Baptiste

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Mirra, congratulations, you're into the final here in Madrid. How are you feeling, doing singles and doubles here, of course, so it's been a strong two weeks from you.

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Yes, I'm super happy with how I played today. Super happy to advance to the final as well for the first time, so of course I'm feeling great, super excited.

I felt like I was playing very well today, and super happy at how focused I stayed until the end of the match. Very excited to be in the final for the first time.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Curious, kind of from a physical standpoint, obviously the final in Linz, semis in Stuttgart, now the final here, as well as still in doubles, how are you feeling physically across this entire stretch of the clay season?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: To be honest, I feel great. Like, I cannot complain. We do everything we can to recover fast, but I feel like I'm recovering pretty well. I don't feel like I'm tired, or I don't feel like I need a couple of days off. Yeah, I feel like so far it's been good, so we will just try to keep doing the same thing as we were doing to keep me fresh and ready.

Q. I don't know if you know that you are the youngest tennis player to reach the three finals in a WTA 1000 since the format was introduced in 2009. Of course, you're only 19, which you turned yesterday. How do you handle the pressure of these kinds of situations at 19 years old?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, honestly, I guess the easier way to handle the pressure is just that I don't know about any statistics. I don't know about, you know, who did it first or who didn't do it, or am I the first one to do it. Am I, I don't know, the 10th one to do it. So I just try to not follow kind of the statistics and everything, and I just try to really focus on what I have to do on the court on every tournament that I play.

Q. You reached fourth round three years ago when you were only 15 here, and it was like your first big result on tour. Now you are in the final and I will ask you, what do you say to that Mirra in the past now that you are in the final?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Oh, my God. I don't know, I guess I'm just going to say, keep coming back to Madrid, because you're playing well here.

I don't know, I remember that when I was playing here at that age I didn't really think about anything. I was just trying to enjoy every match that I was playing, and the atmosphere. I don't know, I guess I would just say keep going and just keep fighting no matter what, because I guess afterwards in the future not bad results are coming and you'll be happy with how your game is evolving.

Q. After Aryna lost, you became the favorite in terms of being the highest-ranked player. Did that, was that in your head at all, becoming the favorite, and what does it feel like knowing that you're the best one or you have the best results of anybody still in the field?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, I haven't thought about it until you just told me that (laughing). Honestly, I don't know. I guess I would just say that every player that is playing in the semifinal and every player that advances further in the tournament obviously is playing great and is having a great run.

So, for me, I just told myself that it wouldn't matter who I would play against, I would just try to make my opponent's life very complicated if she wants to beat me. If she beats me, then, okay, I will just try to be proud and shake her hand and say, Okay, good job, you earned the win, and there's nothing else I can do. But obviously, if she beats me, then, you know, she's going to have to really work for it. And that's what kind of the mindset I had coming into this match, and I will try to have the same mindset when I will be playing the final.

Q. You turned 19 yesterday and today you certify your path to the final. I want to ask you, how is Conchita Martinez influencing your evolution?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, of course, me and her, we've done a lot of job together. I think that obviously she is helping me to improve as a person and as a player on the court as well. Obviously we've been working for two years now, and I feel like she has given me a lot of new things. She tries to kind of, you know, make my life kind of better, but complicated on the court for my opponents. So, yeah, we're trying to work a lot on a lot of the things. I feel like having her in my box by my side helps a lot. She used to be a great player, now she's a great coach, and I'm just super happy that one day we had a chance to work together, and we still do.

Q. More than one year pass since your last final of WTA 1000 in Indian Wells. How did your game change since that time, and in what main areas; and what do you still have to improve mostly to start winning slams? Also, I wonder about your yesterday birthday. How did you spend it, and maybe what presents inspired you for today's win?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, first, I would say that, yeah, it's been a year since my last 1000 final, but also I don't think about those things. I really try to approach every tournament with the same mindset. It doesn't matter to me if I'm playing a 500 or a 1000 or a slam, I just try to give my hundred percent in every match that I play, and after see how everything is going and how the results are. But, yeah, I really try not to think about all those statistics and really try to do my job on the court.

About the birthday, I got a pair of high heels from the gentleman over there. And I guess that I also had a little walk today to try them on in the morning, so maybe that kind of got me in the good mood. Yeah, that was the gift that I remembered.

Q. I wanted to ask, regarding the match, in the second set you had a few match points at 5-3, and then at 5-4 you were serving, and then it got pushed to the tiebreak. So what were your thoughts during that momentum shift, and how did you pull yourself through that?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, obviously when it was 5-3 and she was serving, I told myself that I would really try to win this game and break her and win the match. After, I felt like maybe I got a little bit passive, but she also hit a couple of winners after I had the match point, so there was nothing really that I could do. Obviously, when I was serving for the match, as everyone gets a little bit nervous, and I made a couple of mistakes after serving great. So, yeah, I mean, this stuff happens and I guess the most important is how you recover after that.

I just told myself that, you know, now it's 5-All. And when I was in that situation as Hailey was, that I just remembered that when I was playing against opponents, I would hope that they would just lose the focus and I would get the second set easier, and I would not have to play a lot of points. I just thought that maybe she thinks the same way, and I just said that, on my serve, I will just try to serve well, and if she puts it back in play to just, you know, build the point and, you know, let her play as many shots as I can.

Then after in the tiebreak I just tried to really, after when it was 4-0, I just really tried to win one point. And then after one point I said to myself, Okay, let's win another one. I just tried to play point by point, and I guess that's how I came back in the tiebreak as well.

Q. Let's say around this point, the size of points in the second set, there were a few moments when we could say old Mirra, 18-year-old Mirra would maybe lose her mind or something like this. You handled it perfectly well, and your explanation now also. Do you feel like you're growing, not only by age, but with this maturity in the way how you can handle these situations?

MIRRA ANDREEVA: Well, I want to think so. Obviously, as funny as it sounds, I feel like I'm getting older, and I also feel like in my mind things are changing a little bit. I also feel like I'm thinking a little bit differently about some certain things.

I don't know, today I just felt like this was the only thing that I had to do on the court, and I really tried to focus on that and do everything I can to just not to react at anything that was happening. I was not also reacting a lot on the points, or on the games that I was winning. I felt like that was helping me to stay calmer, and also kind of saving the energy a little bit, I guess. I don't know, I was just trying to think to not react at anything that was happening.

Q. Given that you are the highest-ranked player in the final, do you consider yourself the favorite for the match, and if that adds some extra pressure.

MIRRA ANDREEVA: No, I don't consider myself the favorite for the match because I know that whoever gets to the final is a tough opponent. I've learned not to care about the rankings of my opponent or, you know, the last name of my opponent as well. I'm just going to try to go on court and do the things that I have to do to really focus on the game plan that we create with Conchita, and that's the only thing I can control.

I cannot control the future. I cannot control the results, the outcome, so that doesn't depend on me. In the final I will just try to do everything that is, that I can control, and then we will see what's going to happen.