Former world No. 3 Nadia Petrova thinks some of Mirra Andreeva's breakdowns from 2025 are nothing but "age-related" stuff that will be fixed with more experience and maturity.
Andreeva kicked off her 2025 season with a bang, winning two WTA 1000 titles as a 17-year-old in Dubai and Indian Wells. The Russian also broke into the top-10 for the first time in March.
But after winning her first WTA 1000 titles and turning 18 in April, Andreeva started to struggle with her form and results. And the world No. 9 was clearly becoming frustrated as the year progressed and it resulted in a couple of on-court meltdowns. She didn't win any titles for the rest of 2025 and just missed out on making the WTA Finals although she was in pole position to reach Riyadh.
Petrova, who won 13 WTA titles and made two Grand Slam singles semifinals, thinks that Andreeva achieving some very impressive things early on backfired in some ways because it also brought more attention and pressure. However, the Russian tennis legend believes it is nothing to be particularly concerned.
Petrova: Andreeva's breakdowns were age-related, she is in a transitional stage
"I think it's age-related. It's a transitional stage in her professional career, you could say. She needs to get through this. She needs to learn to cope with her emotions and feelings," former world No. 3 Petrova told Championat.
"But I'll say this in Mirra's defense: they set specific goals with their team and achieved them very quickly. Two consecutive tournament wins, a sharp rise not even into the top ten, but into the top five. I think this was a bit of a surprise for them. And then there was too much media attention, too much talk, too much comparison with other top stars, the legends of this great sport. And this, of course, threw Mirra off.
"She's a smart girl, she has a good team. I think they'll explain everything to her, explain it to her, and she'll go out there and give it her all, and she'll stabilize emotionally,"
After winning Dubai and Indian Wells, Andreeva openly spoke about becoming a Grand Slam champion in 2025 being her next big goal. It didn't happen after the Russian tennis star picked up back-to-back quarterfinal exits at the French Open and Wimbledon, and also lost in the third round at the US Open.
