20-2.

That is the professional record of 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in 2023. In the final round of qualifying for Roland Garros on Thursday, she confirmed how confident she was in her game by defeating top seed Camila Osorio (who was fresh from a fourth round run in Rome, 7-6(8) 6-4.

Andreeva will now be in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in her young career.

“It feels amazing of course," she said. "I was very nervous before this match because she was the No. 1 seed and I know she’s a tricky player who plays very smart tennis. I’m really happy I managed to win this match.”

It’s been a rapid rise for Andreeva who, despite only turning 16 last month, is now ranked 143 in the world thanks to her excellent results on the ITF World Tennis Tour, including two ITF W60 titles in Chiasso and Bellinzona, and a run to the fourth round in Madrid.

So, was she expecting to be so successful so soon?

“No! When I played the juniors, I didn’t think I could be here qualifying for the main draw already," Andreeva admitted. "I was just working, fighting during practices and tournaments and so now here I am.

"I was watching this tournament when I was a kid. I remember Nadal playing against Roger, not sure which match it was, and I was cheering for Roger. I watched every Grand Slam, all the time, so it’s a dream to be here now. I was there last year too but in juniors and this is really different to be now in the main draw of a women's Grand Slam.”

Andreeva looks so at ease on Tour those days that one wonders what kind of difference she feels compared to last year.

“The difference between juniors and the women’s Tour is pretty big," she considers. "In juniors, you can let yourself relax a little bit because you have a better level than your opponent. If I was leading 5-1, I knew I could relax for a few games and still it would be fine. But here you just have to fight for everything and nobody will give you anything. All the matches need to be played like that.”

Now Andreeva is hoping to be able to share that joy with her sister Erika, the current world No. 147, who will try to qualify on Friday when she takes on Serbian Olga Danilovic.

“I of course want her to win," Andreeva said. "I’m always very nervous when she plays. If we both end up in the main draw, it would be really amazing because it’s also a small dream to play one big tournament with your sister. We used to fight a lot over really small things like the remote of the television, but we’ve grown up and appreciate each other and the time we can spend with each other. We’re just trying to support each other.”

Mirra Andreeva has chosen Cannes in the South of France to develop her game, following the path of Daniil Medvedev. Coached by Jean-Christophe Faurel, she has already learned some French (with a very good accent). More importantly, she has found a home away from home.

“When I first trained at the academy in Cannes for a week, I was really nervous, I didn’t know anyone. But the people and the players were really nice and I felt that maybe it was the place.”

She hasn’t fully embraced the French way of life though, so you will not find her wandering the “cafés” or the “boutiques” in her off time here.

“When I play, I don’t really have time to go and see. But in Paris, I’ve seen everything already, been walking everywhere with my parents so now I’m just staying in my room, eating uber eats and that’s it," she laughs.

Andreeva has her eyes firmly set on all the prizes tennis has to offer, but still fondly remembers why she even started all of this. She has her mother to thank and more precisely a specific Australian Open match in 2005.

“I’ve always been on the courts since I was two because my mom watches tennis a lot," she said. "And because of the match between Marat Safin and Roger Federer in Australia in 2005, she decided to have Erika try. She also liked volleyball but we never were tall enough for that, so she decided to try tennis. I started pretty late, I started at six really because I couldn’t hold the racket in my hand, it was falling all the time!”

That racket isn't falling anymore. It’s flying.