Yevgeny Kafelnikov offered scathing criticism on Mirra Andreeva's Australian Open round-of-16 display, saying that he regrets watching the match and stating that the 18-year-old has no chance of winning a Grand Slam or reaching the world No. 1 spot.
After winning the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide for her fourth WTA title, Andreeva also triumphed in her opening three matches at Melbourne Park to reach the round-of-16. But for the third consecutive year, the Russian exited the Happy Slam in last-16 stage being bounced 2-6 4-6 by Elina Svitolina.
Throughout the match, Andreeva struggled on her serve, losing her serve a total of five times. Also, the world No. had 33 unforced errors and realized just two of her nine break point chances.
However, it should be noted that Svitolina was also playing aggressively and she was doing a great job of putting her Russian rival in tough spots.
Kafelnikov, a former two-time Grand Slam champion and the 2000 Sydney Olympics gold medalist, was all but impressed with how the top-ranked Russian female tennis player performed against Svitolina.
“To be honest, I wish I hadn’t watched that match between Andreeva and Svitolina, because it really revealed a huge number of shortcomings in Mirra’s game," the Russian tennis legend said on First&Red.
Kafelnikov: You can hate me, but Andreeva has no prospects of winning a Grand Slam or being the world No. 1
“And honestly, with the way she’s playing right now, I’ll say this – you can hate me, you can say whatever you want – but she has no prospects of becoming the world No. 1 or winning a Grand Slam. You need to look reality straight in the eye. I genuinely want – I’m telling you this honestly – for her to improve as a tennis player and to win a huge number of Grand Slam tournaments, but to do that, something has to change," the former ATP world No. 1 explained.
To Andreeva's defense, she may not have impressed against Svitolina, but she still remains one of the most talented and promising players on the WTA Tour.
Last year, Andreeva was just 17 when she won back-to-back titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, and broke into the top-10 for the first time in her career.
Andreeva has probably already done some analysis since her Australian Open defeat and will look to learn from what happened against Svitolina.
