In the first round of Wimbledon, Russian tennis players suffered losses: in two days, five players finished the singles competition. Some of these mistakes were somewhat overshadowed in the great flow of matches. Some, on the contrary, have excited the tennis world.
In the women’s category, Anna Blinkova, Anastasia Potapova and Mirra Andreeva completed the fight. Anna lost to Caroline Garcia in two sets 4:6, 5:7, and Anastasia suffered a very disappointing defeat against Bernarda Pera, leading the decisive set 5:3, but eventually losing in the tiebreak.
The most resounding was Mirra’s departure. Andreeva Jr. had the advantage in the match against Brenda Frukhvirtova, but lost it, became angry and had to fight back tears. The match ended in favor of the Czech tennis player 1:6, 6:3, 6:2. Although the Wimbledon press service before the start of the tournament included Mirra among the best players who should have been paid special attention to.
Russian experts tried to explain Andreeva’s sensational defeat to Frukhvirtova. The first to do so was former ATP number nine Andrey Chesnokov.
“To play on grass, you have to know the grass. Mirra doesn’t know how to use grass yet. She played very badly. How many matches did Mirra actually play on grass? She played at junior Wimbledon and now she plays among seniors. In the third set, Mirra was confused and didn’t know how to score points anymore, everything was the other way around. Mirra is a great accomplished player, but she is still a child,” Chesnokov told the Championships.
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Russia’s distinguished coach Viktor Yanchuk also highlighted Mirra’s young age.
“It’s too early to talk about Andreeva. Yes, she is a rising star, but the key word is rising. Mirra can stumble; she doesn’t have to win. It’s too early for her to claim any place. Let her play to have fun and gain experience.”
Every flower blooms in its own time; myrrh has not yet blossomed. It needs a couple of years to establish itself as a professional with the right to titles. But on the pitch you can play as you like, because chance plays an important role.”
Mirra Andreeva
Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images
The foreign tennis world, which follows Mirra so closely, also reacted to her defeat against Brenda Frukhvirtova. Portuguese journalist José Morgado drew attention to the Russian coach on social media.
“Wow. 17-year-old Frukhvirtova defeated 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 1:6, 6:3, 6:2 and advanced to the second round. Mirra reached the semi-finals of the “RG” [2024] and the second week in London [2023].
Failed comeback by Conchita Martínez, who already won this tournament as a player (in singles in 1994 – Championship Note) and as a coach (with Garbiñe Muguruza in 2017 – Championship Note),” wrote Morgada.
And journalists from the Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo described the match between Mirra and Brenda as a “duel of child prodigies.”
In the men’s section, the match was completed by Pavel Kotov and Andrey Rublev. Pavel, after a 2-0 lead in the matches, gave up the five-set match to Jordan Thompson (7-5, 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 4-6). And Andrey, nervous, lost to Francisco Comesaña (4:6, 7:5, 2:6, 6:7).
Rublev’s match was tense: the Russian hit his knees, shouted and swore. At the post-match press conference, Andrei explained what prevented him from achieving victory.
“I need a few matches, a few matches to get my rhythm back. It’s not easy. After losing in Paris, I think I was almost two weeks without playing. But in Halle I only played one match. Then again a break of almost two weeks. When the rhythm drops like that, it’s not easy for you. It takes one or two matches to get my confidence back. I think that’s what I need now,” Rublev is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying.
Andrei Rublev
Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images
Viktor Yanchuk, speaking to the Championship, noted that Rublev is now experiencing a decline. Moreover, Andrei has never achieved major victories on grass before, which would have helped him to approach the tournament in good shape.
But Andrei Chesnokov could not explain Rublev’s defeat to Comesanya.
“It is simply unbelievable that Andrei lost. I find it inexplicable how the sixth player in the world lost to a player in the second hundredth place in the ranking. The Argentine hit well, served well, used every opportunity to attack, took advantage of Rublev’s speed, but Andrei played a very weak match,” TASS quotes Chesnokov as saying.
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The Spaniards described Rublev’s defeat as disappointing.
“Victory of a lifetime! Francisco Comesaña made his debut in Grand Slam tournaments and won the match with the sixth-ranked player in the world by 6:4, 5:7, 6:2, 7:6. Another disappointment in the majors for Andrei Rublev,” wrote the ESPN Tennis account.
After his disqualification in Dubai, Andrei only made it past the third round in one tournament: the victorious Madrid Masters. The rest of the competitions proved fruitless for the Russian.
One way or another, Wimbledon has just started and there are still Russian tennis players left in the draw: Roman Safiullin, Aslan Karatsev, Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev, Veronika Kudermetova, Anna Kalinskaya, Elina Avanesyan, Lyudmila Samsonova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina, Erika Andreeva and Diana Schneider.
And follow all the matches from London on the “Championship”!
