16-year-old Mirra Andreeva eliminated in the second round of the US Open

The second round of the US Open, which continues in New York, was the last for the youngest participant in this competition – Russian Mirra Andreeva. After losing in two sets to the sixth racket of the world American Coco Gauff, she dropped out of the fight earlier than in the previous two Grand Slam tournaments – Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

After a brilliant performance at Wimbledon, where she not enough just a little, Mirra Andreeva went into the shadows. In a month and a half, she held two small tournaments of the 250 category on the ground of Lausanne and on the Cleveland hard court, in both cases stopping at the stage of the second round. Fans of Andreeva, whom she managed to acquire this year with her bright, provocative game, would like different results. But the emotional overload associated with a breakthrough in the first hundred of the world rankings of a 16-year-old girl, who suddenly found herself in the center of everyone’s attention, sooner or later had to make itself felt. In addition, the novelty effect that accompanies the birth of any tennis star is gradually fading away.

Andreeva now and then has to deal with rivals who have managed to study her game in detail and are psychologically ready to compete with a young opponent.

In such cases, the most correct course of action is to discard premature ambitions, ignore the annoying informational background, concentrate on improving the game and systematically check whether that painstaking training work is going in the right direction, without which it is impossible to become a player in the top ten and even twenty.

In this regard, the match with Coco Gauff seemed to be a suitable option for Andreeva. In early June, in the third round of Roland Garros, the American, having lost the first set in a tie-break, then achieved a turning point, that is, the current confrontation had something to compare with. True, if in the spring Gauff did not show a single good result at clay tournaments before arriving in Paris, now the American has a victory in Washington, a defeat in the quarterfinals of Montreal from the future champion, compatriot Jessica Pegula, and a title in Cincinnati (where Gauff managed to break the resistance of the first racket of the world Igi Swiatek). In other words, Andreeva was opposed not just by a rival from the elite, but by the leader in points scored during the American series and almost the main favorite of the US Open. What’s more, Gauff has recently beefed up his coaching team to include Brad Gilbert, a seasoned professional and brilliant motivator who led the famed Andre Agassi to six of his eight major titles.

The debut of the meeting was promising for Andreeva. She immediately made a break and had the opportunity to lead – 2:0. However, Gauff quickly seized the initiative and, taking the fourth and fifth games to zero, brought the game to victory. The Russian woman pulled out two protracted draws, successfully counterattacked several times, but in general she acted noticeably more passively, and this did not help her make mistakes less often than her opponent. At the beginning of the second set, Andreeva tried to start a fight, however, having failed to noticeably increase in speed, she was soon forced to accept an insulting defeat – 3:6, 2:6 in 1 hour and 16 minutes.

Koko Gauff, who has confirmed her claim to the main prize of $3 million, will face Belgian Elise Mertens in the 1/16 finals, while Andreeva will prepare for the next tournaments. At the same time, the Russian woman, currently the 63rd racket of the world, according to the results of the US Open, has a real chance for the first time in her career to be among the 60 strongest in the world. This requires that several other tennis players do not go far along the grid.

Evgeny Fedyakov