'Six watermelons': Andreeva's daily routine delivers AO girls' final
Mirra Andreeva, the 2023 Australian Open junior girls' singles finalist, has kept the same routine every single day of this year’s tournament.
Staying at a hotel in Albert Park (home to the annual Australian Formula One Grand Prix) she gets up 90 minutes before the shuttle bus takes her into Melbourne Park, a 10 minute ride away.
Breakfast has not varied at all this week for the 15-year-old. Scrambled eggs (with tomato sauce), two chicken sausages, fruit (“five melons and six watermelons” [Editor's note: presumably slices of, rather than the whole fruit], she says very precisely and triumphantly) and “a drink of pineapple juice”.
Andreeva's English - which she has been learning for just five years - is outstanding and she is yet another in a chain of engaging young junior players very happy to chat immediately post match in Melbourne. It is a refreshing and uplifting trait.
“I was studying with a tutor at school but now I learn English when I am travelling,” she says.
This is her first time playing at the Australian Open but not her first time in Australia. She spent 10 days in Melbourne hotel quarantine with covid a year ago and then flew back home without taking to the match court. Australian TV was good, she said, on the plus side.
Saturday’s final is shaping up as a moment to remember forever. Facing her on the other side of the net will be her compatriot, 15-year-old Alina Korneeva, who came back from a set down to beat Japan’s Sayaka Ishii in an hour and 49 minutes.
“She is a really good friend of mine, my best friend," said Andreeva. "We play doubles together.”
Does that make the final especially challenging?
“We need to play the game and can still be friends off court," she said. "We haven’t played since 2020 but I think she is about 3-2 ahead.”
Another part of the Andreeva routine this week has been to warm up, first in the gym and then on court, with Korneeva.
Regardless of the result on Saturday, Andreeva has had the best of weeks, she says, with her latest triumph being an 83-minute victory over Britain’s Ranah Akua Stoiber in Friday’s semi-final.
“I’m looking forward to playing on Rod Laver Arena and have enjoyed every moment and second of this tournament," she said.
She carries a wider perspective, too, and is generous towards both women set to follow her and Korneeva on court in the women's singles final on Saturday night.
“The Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek match was pretty good, I was sure Swiatek would win,” she mused of their fourth round clash. Rybakina ultimately won the fourth round clash in two sets and went on to book a clash with Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
So who would she like to win that one?
“I’ve known [Rybakina] since I was eight, so I will be happy for her to win, but I also want to see Sabalenka win a Grand Slam.”
Later, at around 6.30pm, an ecstatic Renata Jamrichova, of Slovakia, and Federica Urgesi, of Italy, overcame Japan’s Hayu Kinoshita and Sara Saito 10-7 in a long final set tie-break to win the junior girls' doubles crown before a good crowd on court 3.