Mirra Andreeva, Tennis' New Prodigy

[jimlosaltos]

Your tour portrait this month is a bit of a a departure. We're featuring 18 year old Mirra Andreeva who is already ranked 7 in the world and won back-to-back WTA 1000 events in Dubai and Indian Wells when she was 17 years old. She may be the only active WTA player to have won back-to-back WTA 1000s, formerly known as WTA Premiere events. Please click here to see.

This is a departure because Indian Wells, in a fit of bureaucracy, wouldn't allow cameras into Stadium 2 when I saw her. So, these photos are not only taken with a cell phone but under gruesome conditions for photography, at a distance, in intermittent rain and gloom. But since Mirra is a hot topic I did my best to coax images out of the phone and give you a look at her shots.

To give you an idea of the challenge, here's one before and after. First the original phone image. Face in deep shadows with sun directly behind her, moving fast, and obviously a tiny image.

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And here's what I was able to coax out of it. This one came out better than some simply because the sun popped out and photos, especially on the tiny, teeny sensors in phones, love photos. It gives you more to work with.

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[jimlosaltos]

Bold comment by Bill Simons on InsideTennis.

"Mirra Andreeva, who’s still just 18, hasn’t won a Slam yet. And the odds makers say she won’t win here. She is a 12-1 long shot. But we say that if she doesn’t win five Slams by the end of her career something would be amiss in the tennis universe."

[jimlosaltos]

Mirra up a set and a break vs Emma Navarro, whose game seems suited to grass.
Mirra's serve seems to be improving steadily. Won 89% of first serves in their first set, 16/18. Speed 121 MPH max/ 114 MPH ave.
Neither player will go to the net on a dare.
If Mirra holds on, she'll be through to the quarters for the first time here and be favored over resurgent Belinda Bencic.

UPDATE: Turns into a real route for the 18 year old, taking out number 10 Navarro 6-2, 6-3, 63 total points to only 45. Navarro only had 8 winners in the match. Ouch!

[jimlosaltos]

This is sappy but I can't resist posting. Here is Mirra, day off, being a joyous teenager, cheering for her coach Conchita Martinez, who is in invitational doubles.

Made a sign, and got a funky hat. Oh, to be young

Photo: Wimby?
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