Mirra Andreeva has her eyes firmly on the prize at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Mirra Andreeva is back in action at this week’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix after enjoying a triumphant start to the season. The teenager has won 13 of her last 14 matches, picking up back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells. Andreeva is now hoping to carry her momentum into the clay swing.
The 17-year-old is the sixth seed at the WTA 500 event in Stuttgart, which is sponsored by Porsche and sees the champion receive a free car alongside their trophy. Andreeva has already been window shopping for which motor she’d like to get. There’s just one problem – she doesn’t have her license yet.
Andreeva is making her debut at the indoor clay tournament in Stuttgart this week, and she’s well aware that there’s something extra on the line – a brand-new Porsche motor.
Last year, Elena Rybakina walked away with her own car when she beat Marta Kostyuk to lift the title. World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who was victorious in 2022 and 2023, previously revealed that she drives her winning Porsche on a “daily basis”.
Andreeva would now like to add her name to the list of champions and receive her own wheels. Porsche parks some cars by the centre court in Stuttgart, and the world No. 7 has been eyeing them up.
“The view on the centre court is super nice. I already thought about which cars I would like to get,” she smiled.
However, Andreeva doesn’t want to get ahead of herself just yet. Plenty of matches are ahead if she wants to lift the title, and, more importantly, she still can’t drive.
She added: “But we’re not there yet. I’m just looking around. I still don’t have my driver’s license. Yeah, we’re going to see. We’re going to decide if I get to the final.”
There have already been a few unlicensed champions in Stuttgart. Last year, Rybakina revealed that she couldn’t legally drive her car, but she has since passed her test.
In 2018, Karolina Pliskova had to be chauffeured around the court after winning the tournament. The former world No. 1 still owns her Porsche and lets her husband drive it.
Andreeva has a tough opening match if she wants to go deep enough to win a motor as she will face her older sister, Erika. The 17-year-old was slated to play last year’s runner-up Kostyuk but the Ukrainian pulled out with an injury and Erika got in as a lucky loser.
Although Erika is ranked 90 spots below her younger sister at No. 97 in the world, Mirra lost their only meeting at the WTA 1000 in Wuhan last year 6-3 6-1.
Once Kostyuk withdrew, No. 6 seed Andreeva knew there was a chance her sibling could be drawn as her first opponent.
“We’re going to take it professionally because we don’t have any other choice,” she said of her second meeting with Erika.
“If it’s going to be like this, then we’re just going to go on court and play as any other match. We’re going to face each other, and if it happens, probably it’s going to be a great and entertaining match.”