Tennis

Teen star Mirra Andreeva ‘too shy’ to say hello to Andy Murray at Wimbledon

16-year-old Russian through to the third round after her opponent Barbora Krejcikova retired injured

Russia's Mirra Andreeva returns the ball to Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova during their women's singles match at Wimbledon. Photograph: Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images
Russia's Mirra Andreeva returns the ball to Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova during their women's singles match at Wimbledon. Photograph: Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images
Thu Jul 06 2023 - 19:48

Russian teen sensation Mirra Andreeva revealed she had met her idol Andy Murray at Wimbledon but was too shy to speak to him.

The 16-year-old recently revealed that the two-time champion was a lucky charm after he sent her a good luck message in Madrid in response to Andreeva calling him “beautiful”.

She went on to make the fourth round in the Spanish capital and more good luck could be about to follow in SW19 after she reached the third round when her opponent Barbora Krejcikova retired injured in their second-round match.

But even though she got to meet Murray, she could not bring herself to say anything.

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Andreeva, who was 6-3 4-0 up when the former French Open could not continue, said: “I met Andy Murray here. But I’m too shy to talk to him.

“When I see him, I try to leave the facility super quick just to not talk to him because I’m super shy.”

Blocking Andreeva’s route to Centre Court is fellow Russian and the 22nd seed Anastasia Potapova, who last hit the headlines for wearing a Spartak Moscow shirt as she made a match entrance, and who beat the youngster in three sets in Andreeva’s WTA debut match. Andreeva has gained much more experience since then, she says.

But perhaps the key to her form – she’s now dropped just two sets in her five matches, including the qualifiers – is the pure joy she shows for the game; the exuberance of youth: “I always want to win but I will just do my best. I will be super happy to get through or even make the semis, but I don’t have any goals – I just like to play.”

Anett Kontaveit’s singles career is over after she was easily beaten by 32nd seed Marie Bouzkova.

The Estonian, who reached number two in the world, is retiring after Wimbledon and will not have a fairy-tale ending after a 6-1 6-2 defeat. She left Court 18 in tears, but will compete in the mixed doubles.

She said: “It’s just a lot of emotions. There’s sadness, there’s happiness, there’s a bit of everything.

“Of course, the match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but I was so happy to be able to play in front of so many people, that so many people that love me were able to see me play for the last time – in singles.”

French Open finalist Karolina Muchova is out after she was beaten 4-6 7-5 6-1 by Jule Niemeier.

Muchova suffered an injury early in the third set after slipping and was unable to recover.

Asked about the injury she said: “I don’t know much about it yet, it is tough to know how, hopefully it is not serious.

“It affected me for sure, but she played great, it would be tough either way, even if nothing happened.”

Sofia Kenin looks like she could be an outsider for the tournament after following up her statement win over Coco Gauff with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Wang Xinyu, while Elina Svitolina’s comeback from giving birth last year continues to go well with a 6-1 1-6 6-1 success against 28th seed Elise Mertens.

Bianca Andreescu had been waiting since Tuesday to play her first-round match due to the rain and she came through 6-3 3-6 6-2 against Anna Bondar while Viktoria Azarenka made light work of Nadia Podoroska with a 6-3 6-0 success.