Quarterfinals live: Zverev moves into semis with clinical show vs Rafa Jodar
Here's the transcript of Mirra Andreeva's on-court interview after her semifinal win. Q: Recently you've played against a lot of elite but tough opponents. How
Here's the transcript of Mirra Andreeva's on-court interview after her semifinal win. Q: Recently you've played against a lot of elite but tough opponents. How important was it today to play your best, especially from the beginning? Mirra Andreeva Yeah. Last time I played against Sorana, it was an incredibly tough battle. Every practice that we have is also very tough. I don't know, maybe 10 times already this year. We practice here, we know each other very well. I knew that this match wouldn't be easy and I knew that I had to bring 100 percent of my intensity and of my focus today, because she would use every opportunity that she would find to play aggressive, to pressure me and to take control of the court.
So I'm just super happy that I was able to do it first and try to dictate the rallies from the beginning. Q: The first time I saw you on a tennis court was in Madrid in 2023. You had just turned 16 and I was very impressed by the way you understood the game at such a young age. Is that something you learned or is it natural? Mirra Andreeva I feel like I never learned how to play or which decisions to choose on the court. I was always super excited to play games and I guess, I don't know, from a very young age, I just felt like I was reading the game.
I just never knew that it's something special, but I felt like I always knew how to read the game and which decisions to make. Sometimes when I'm nervous, obviously, the decisions are not so great, but I'm happy that today especially, I felt like it was very much on point. Q: There's something I really appreciate. Every time you win a trophy, you thank the crowd, thank your team, and then you thank yourself. How important is that for you? Because you work so much every day to be able to play on the biggest courts in the world. Mirra Andreeva Well, I'll be honest. At first, when I said that in a speech, I just saw Snoop Dogg say it when he was receiving an award.
So for the first couple of times, I kind of stole it just to make a joke. But then I kind of realized that it's actually true. We also have to thank ourselves for the work that we do on the court, for how much we sacrifice, for how much we practice, and for how much we work. So I felt like now it's just what I really want to tell myself almost every time.
The BriefWire