Mirra Andreeva is one of the top young stars in tennis today.
She has established herself as a top 10 player and claimed back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Dubai earlier this season.
Now the Russian is in pursuit of her first major and she made an impressive start to her third Wimbledon campaign.
She defeated Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-3 to book her spot in round two, and her performance was assessed by the tournament’s most successful player.
Mirra Andreeva receives advice from Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon
Following Andreeva’s victory she conducted an interview with nine-time Wimbledon singles champion Martina Navratilova on Tennis Channel.
The 18-year-old disclosed that the former world number one has given her advice on her game, and she received some more during the interview.
“I think that, I’m not gonna tell you everything. Some basics: She told me to always stay low, not get up with my legs, like to always be low and kind of,” Andreeva shared.
“Even when I run for, I don’t know, a drop shot or in the defence, you should always stay low with your legs. And I feel like it’s working, actually.
“So when I do it, it does work. and she told me to maybe use a little bit more slice, but I don’t know if it’s just because of the grass or it’s just because she used to do a lot of slices.
Navratilova added: “By the way, it’s both the slice. She used it, but on grass and also, the players don’t like it when you slice the ball, because the ball stays low and they can’t really get a good hit on the ball.”
What was the deal Mirra Andreeva made with Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon?
Andreeva needed just one hour and 19 minutes to start Wimbledon with a win.
She admitted to feeling very nervous before the match, but she overcame those feelings to advance to round two and rebound from her opening round defeat at Wimbledon a year ago.
During her conversation with Navratilova, Andreeva made a deal and offered to buy the 68-year-old a meal if her advice helped Andreeva win the next match.
“Staying low is essential and shorten up the swings a little bit,” Navratilova said, to which Andreeva responded: “Shorten up the swings, okay. If I lose my next match that’s your fault.”
Raising the stakes Navratilova responded: “Okay, and if you win, what do I get?”, before Andreeva answered: “If I win, then I can buy you dinner in a nice restaurant,” to which a happy Navratilova said: “I’ll take it!”
Andreeva will take on Lucia Bronzetti in round two and will aim to move one step close to matching her best result of reaching the fourth round.