Latest / Bleacher Report / Mirra Andreeva Defeats Maja Chwalińska in Roland-Garros Final - TNT Crew Reacts
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Thirty nine days ago, Mira Andreva turned nineteen years old.
- 0:06Speaker 1: Today she became the third youngest major champ this century. Yeah,
- 0:12Speaker 1: Miriya Sharipova was seventeen in Wimbledon back in two thousand
- 0:15Speaker 1: and four, Kamaradai Kanu eighteen at the US Open in
- 0:19Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, Andreeva still a teen now she reigns
- 0:25Speaker 1: supreme Mira Andreva, Congratulations, Welcome to our set here live
- 0:30Speaker 1: in Musketeer Square at Roland Garros, Adam Lefko, Caroline wils Niyaki,
- 0:34Speaker 1: Sam Quarry, Sloan Stevens. This is live at Roland Garros
- 0:38Speaker 1: on TNT, presented by Nerus, and we have a champion.
- 0:42Speaker 2: Let's see how we got here.
- 0:43Speaker 1: Right to the beginning, we are still enjoying the celebrations
- 0:46Speaker 1: before we go to the highlights.
- 0:48Speaker 2: Caroline, we talked about what this will be for her.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Honing this moment, enjoying this moment to get a title
- 0:55Speaker 1: at nineteen.
- 0:56Speaker 2: What do we think for her future? It looks ohso.
- 0:58Speaker 3: Brant is so important. We have had big expectations on her.
- 1:04Speaker 3: We know she's had big expectations on herself and to
- 1:07Speaker 3: get this in her pockets so early in her career
- 1:10Speaker 3: at nineteen. It frees her up going forward, right, So
- 1:14Speaker 3: now she has a Grand Slam, people will start asking
- 1:16Speaker 3: when is the second coming? Is she going to win multiple?
- 1:18Speaker 3: Is she going to win ten? Is she going to
- 1:20Speaker 3: win five? And that's a big question that we're all
- 1:22Speaker 3: going to have. But at the end of the day,
- 1:24Speaker 3: nobody can take away that she's going to be a
- 1:25Speaker 3: Grand Slam champion.
- 1:27Speaker 4: Now.
- 1:28Speaker 3: She said, I want to be number one in the
- 1:29Speaker 3: world and I want to win a Grand Slam. So
- 1:31Speaker 3: her next goal is probably going to be all Right,
- 1:33Speaker 3: we're getting into the rest of the season.
- 1:35Speaker 4: I have number one in the race.
- 1:37Speaker 3: If I keep going and keep playing well, maybe I
- 1:39Speaker 3: can become number one at the end of this year
- 1:42Speaker 3: as well. And I mean, but an opportunity.
- 1:44Speaker 4: She has so many years ahead of her.
- 1:46Speaker 3: She keeps improving week after week, month after month, and
- 1:49Speaker 3: that's something that I've been most impressed with when it
- 1:52Speaker 3: comes to Mira, and I don't think she's done here.
- 1:56Speaker 3: I think she's going to just keep playing better. She
- 1:58Speaker 3: has an unbelievable team around her. We've talked about Conchita
- 2:01Speaker 3: Martinez how much she's helped her, and I think she's
- 2:04Speaker 3: going to push her to great heights.
- 2:06Speaker 2: She came in ranked eighth in the world.
- 2:08Speaker 1: I believe in the live rankings will be now up
- 2:10Speaker 1: to six in the world. You get that grand Slagh
- 2:12Speaker 1: in your pocket. Number one is all that's left. Let's
- 2:15Speaker 1: go and relive this match one more time.
- 2:18Speaker 3: Yeah, this match, I mean, this was all Andreva. We
- 2:22Speaker 3: thought she is a huge favorite. We knew that there
- 2:24Speaker 3: was going to be a lot of pressure on Andreva early.
- 2:27Speaker 3: They came in and they had four straight breaks to start.
- 2:31Speaker 3: We can see here Conchita is telling her what to
- 2:34Speaker 3: do and not to hit the ball as high over
- 2:37Speaker 3: her shoulders. Faniska is up three two. You can see
- 2:41Speaker 3: here she holds to three two.
- 2:43Speaker 4: And that was really it.
- 2:45Speaker 3: Andreva got used to the wind, she got used to
- 2:47Speaker 3: the conditions. It seemed like her nerves. Really she let
- 2:50Speaker 3: go of her nerves and she started moving forward, playing
- 2:53Speaker 3: more aggressively, and she won the next nine games. You
- 2:57Speaker 3: can see here the wind picking up, you can see
- 2:59Speaker 3: it on her, But it was all Andreva from here.
- 3:02Speaker 4: She was getting to these drop shots.
- 3:04Speaker 3: Even here, I mean, this is not an easy shot
- 3:06Speaker 3: to hit, but her hands, just the.
- 3:09Speaker 4: Way her touch thing this really changed the game for her.
- 3:12Speaker 3: She relaxed. She knew if she could do this, she
- 3:14Speaker 3: could do anything. And once that kind of first set
- 3:17Speaker 3: went into her pocket with a backhand like this, it
- 3:21Speaker 3: was all her. It seemed like Plninska kind of from there,
- 3:24Speaker 3: all the air went out of her and it seemed
- 3:27Speaker 3: like she was struggling to kind of go toe to
- 3:29Speaker 3: toe with Andreva. From that moment on, you could see
- 3:32Speaker 3: that she's played a lot of tennis and she wasn't
- 3:34Speaker 3: moving as well. On Andreva, you got to give her
- 3:36Speaker 3: a lot of credit, young going for your first trans slam,
- 3:40Speaker 3: your huge favorite. But as this match progressed, she only
- 3:43Speaker 3: started playing better and better in the crowd started going
- 3:46Speaker 3: in her favor as well, and that backhand was her
- 3:49Speaker 3: signature shot throughout the whole tournament, but also in.
- 3:51Speaker 4: This match today.
- 3:52Speaker 3: I mean, what a win this was, and great tennis
- 3:55Speaker 3: from Andreva. She hit seventy eight percent of first service
- 3:58Speaker 3: and she only missed two firsts in that second set, well, unbelievable.
- 4:02Speaker 1: And if the rally did go along, there were thirty
- 4:05Speaker 1: one rallies of nine or more up and back.
- 4:07Speaker 2: She won twenty one of them.
- 4:09Speaker 1: She broke her seven times and it brought her to
- 4:12Speaker 1: her knees.
- 4:12Speaker 2: The joy, the.
- 4:13Speaker 1: Exultations, the absolute overwhelming emotion of winning a slam.
- 4:19Speaker 2: Three and two.
- 4:20Speaker 1: Mira Andreaeva, the teen reigned supreme miracle, Mira able to
- 4:25Speaker 1: end the journey of Valinska, an incredible run, coming from
- 4:28Speaker 1: qualifying all the way to the final, going up with Concheetah,
- 4:32Speaker 1: celebrating with her team, all of them throwing on shirts
- 4:35Speaker 1: that say I want to thank myself, which has become
- 4:38Speaker 1: the rallying cry of the young team Sloan A moment.
- 4:41Speaker 4: To the hurt incredible.
- 4:43Speaker 5: I think a dream realized obviously for her, her team,
- 4:46Speaker 5: her family. It's always incredibly special. But to do it
- 4:50Speaker 5: at nineteen, to do it with so much in front
- 4:52Speaker 5: of you, having so much to prove today, being the
- 4:55Speaker 5: heavy favorite in the match day, there was a lot
- 4:57Speaker 5: of pressure going in.
- 4:58Speaker 4: We didn't know how she would.
- 4:59Speaker 5: Respect but you know, she says, you work with her
- 5:01Speaker 5: a psychologist's She managed beautifully. If I like I said,
- 5:05Speaker 5: from the third round, she has been absolutely perfect, and
- 5:08Speaker 5: it's been an amazing sight to see. Like I said,
- 5:10Speaker 5: we've seen her mature very well in the last even
- 5:13Speaker 5: seven days. I guess you'll say from that match, and
- 5:17Speaker 5: I think she just played so well, She was so poised,
- 5:19Speaker 5: She played far beyond her age of nineteen and again
- 5:23Speaker 5: she played someone that she was supposed to beat, and
- 5:25Speaker 5: she got out there and she did what she needed
- 5:27Speaker 5: to do, and you can only she can only thank herself.
- 5:30Speaker 2: Ain't that the true our?
- 5:32Speaker 1: Mary Joe Fernandez caught up with her on the clay
- 5:34Speaker 1: after the match.
- 5:37Speaker 6: Mira, you're the Roland Garros champion. You just turned nineteen
- 5:41Speaker 6: a couple months ago. What was going through your mind
- 5:44Speaker 6: as you were getting closer and closer to the finish line.
- 5:47Speaker 7: Yeah. I was obviously very nervous as you could see it,
- 5:51Speaker 7: being five zero up in the second set, lost the
- 5:53Speaker 7: games in the row. You know, some mistakes, but I'm
- 5:57Speaker 7: just happy that I kept my composure, I kept my focus,
- 6:01Speaker 7: and I felt like, no matter what, no matter what
- 6:04Speaker 7: the score is gonna be, no way I'm gonna lose
- 6:06Speaker 7: this match, No way I'm gonna lose another game or
- 6:08Speaker 7: another point. And I was just very happy with how
- 6:11Speaker 7: locked in I was in the last game.
- 6:13Speaker 6: You can be an emotional player, but something changed in
- 6:16Speaker 6: this tournament. You had challenges today, the conditions, your opponent,
- 6:19Speaker 6: what you were playing for How were you able to
- 6:21Speaker 6: stay so composed?
- 6:23Speaker 7: Honestly, I don't know. I felt like the conditions were
- 6:25Speaker 7: extremely tough, a lot of wind, going into a lot
- 6:28Speaker 7: of different directions. So I'm just happy that I was
- 6:31Speaker 7: able to stay focused and I was able to play
- 6:34Speaker 7: aggressive and go for my shots.
- 6:36Speaker 6: And finally, Mire, you had a very sweet moment with
- 6:38Speaker 6: your mom, who's been with you from the beginning, and
- 6:40Speaker 6: with Conchita Martinez. What did they say to you, Well.
- 6:44Speaker 7: They didn't really say much to me yet, but Conchita
- 6:47Speaker 7: told me that she's extremely proud of me and that
- 6:50Speaker 7: we did it. And honestly, at this moment, that's all
- 6:54Speaker 7: I need to hear.
- 6:55Speaker 6: Many congratulations, well done, thank you so much, poise.
- 7:01Speaker 1: So much potential, sam pack of a resume already for me.
- 7:05Speaker 8: There was two little pockets of stress in this match,
- 7:08Speaker 8: and Andreva handled them both perfectly. First one was the
- 7:11Speaker 8: beginning of the match. First four games they went break break,
- 7:14Speaker 8: break break in the windy conditions.
- 7:16Speaker 2: Andrea ever kept her cool again.
- 7:18Speaker 8: Over the years, that's kind of been the one achilles
- 7:21Speaker 8: heel to her game. She's gotten a little frustrated times.
- 7:23Speaker 8: She's shown that frustration on the court. And then the
- 7:25Speaker 8: second little pocket of stretch was the second set. She
- 7:27Speaker 8: was up to zero and then went down love forty
- 7:30Speaker 8: on her service game.
- 7:31Speaker 2: And what did she do.
- 7:32Speaker 8: She came right back out, won five points in a
- 7:34Speaker 8: row and got the ball rolling again and went up
- 7:36Speaker 8: five zero on that second set. So even though it
- 7:38Speaker 8: was a lopsided score, there was a couple of moments
- 7:40Speaker 8: in there that she handed beautifully when it got stressful.
- 7:43Speaker 8: And if she could continue to do that in the
- 7:45Speaker 8: big moments moving forward, she is going to win more
- 7:47Speaker 8: Grand Slams.
- 7:49Speaker 1: How does her game continue on grass? How does it
- 7:51Speaker 1: go on hard court? Clearly she's had a lot of
- 7:53Speaker 1: success here.
- 7:54Speaker 3: On play well, she's an all around player. She can
- 7:56Speaker 3: plan any surface. Today she proved that not only can
- 7:59Speaker 3: she serve well with you know, ninety three percent first
- 8:03Speaker 3: service and in the second set seventy eight in total. Her
- 8:05Speaker 3: first serf had gotten so much pop on it. She's
- 8:08Speaker 3: been up at one hundred and eleven miles an hour
- 8:10Speaker 3: in this tournament.
- 8:11Speaker 4: So that's a huge plus, right.
- 8:12Speaker 3: That gives you the confidence that you can win your
- 8:16Speaker 3: serve a lot of the time. But also her return game,
- 8:19Speaker 3: she won seven out of nine return games played today,
- 8:22Speaker 3: she had chances in every single game, and so that
- 8:25Speaker 3: just shows on a hardcourt, she's going to be very
- 8:27Speaker 3: dangerous on grass. If she can flatten out her forehand,
- 8:30Speaker 3: she's going to be very dangerous there too. There's really
- 8:33Speaker 3: nothing that says she's only a clay court player, only
- 8:36Speaker 3: a hardcore play.
- 8:37Speaker 4: She's already proven that.
- 8:38Speaker 3: But I think she's going to be a contender in
- 8:40Speaker 3: all the Grand Slams because she's a great athlete. She
- 8:43Speaker 3: has a good serve, there's no real holes in her game,
- 8:46Speaker 3: so it's going to be.
- 8:47Speaker 1: Fun to watch her great run in the Sunshine Double
- 8:50Speaker 1: last year. She went to the quarters of Wimbledon last
- 8:53Speaker 1: year as.
- 8:54Speaker 2: Well, Solan, this is someone with.
- 8:56Speaker 1: A ton of potential, her mobility, her strength. When do
- 9:00Speaker 1: you think, how many years away do you think we
- 9:01Speaker 1: are from her peak? Because I think we're still very
- 9:04Speaker 1: much on the rise.
- 9:05Speaker 5: Well, it's interesting because now we see girls peaking so
- 9:08Speaker 5: much later, and she's one of the few that has
- 9:10Speaker 5: peaked super early at nineteen.
- 9:12Speaker 4: Her Cocoa golf, we've seen the.
- 9:14Speaker 5: Really young ones, but then we've seen the older ones
- 9:16Speaker 5: who also have had you know, their best results at twenty.
- 9:19Speaker 2: Eight to twenty nine to thirty of their career this year.
- 9:21Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely so.
- 9:22Speaker 5: I think for her she's a special individual with a
- 9:25Speaker 5: very special career ahead of her. But I do think
- 9:27Speaker 5: that they'll have to manage it well. Obviously she can
- 9:30Speaker 5: be an absolute star of our game, somewhat like how
- 9:33Speaker 5: Cocoa and Sabolenka are already now. I think she is
- 9:37Speaker 5: poised for that, but it'll be interesting to see how well.
- 9:40Speaker 4: She does manage.
- 9:40Speaker 5: She's very young, so she hasn't had any injuries, she
- 9:43Speaker 5: hasn't had anything that's like halted her. So I think
- 9:46Speaker 5: if she can say on an upward trajectory, I think
- 9:49Speaker 5: that she'll she'll be golden.
- 9:50Speaker 8: And for me, even prior to this win, she had
- 9:53Speaker 8: a star quality about her. Like my two colleagues on
- 9:56Speaker 8: the desk here and I'm not lack about you Adam
- 9:57Speaker 8: Left go wow. You know when Mira Andreva was coming
- 10:00Speaker 8: to the desk, the way she walked, in, the energy
- 10:03Speaker 8: she gave off, she felt like she was already a
- 10:05Speaker 8: Grand Slam champion in Marin and now of course she is.
- 10:08Speaker 8: So that There's certain individuals and athletes you know that
- 10:12Speaker 8: they give off a certain presence when they walk around.
- 10:15Speaker 8: When she walks in, she commands the room a little bit.
- 10:17Speaker 8: She feels like she has that energy, and that energy
- 10:20Speaker 8: I think is going to help her. I said it again,
- 10:22Speaker 8: win more Grand Slams than just this one.
- 10:24Speaker 1: She seemed to have been owning the spotlight for Maya Valinska.
- 10:28Speaker 1: It was Cinderella's run. It did come to a close,
- 10:31Speaker 1: not with the trophy, but with a final appearance, a
- 10:34Speaker 1: run that she man she could ever replicate it. What
- 10:37Speaker 1: a run it was. Mary Joe Fernandez caught up with
- 10:40Speaker 1: her after the match as well.
- 10:43Speaker 6: Maya many congratulations you were the Cinderella story of Roan
- 10:47Speaker 6: Garrows this year. An incredible run to the final, coming
- 10:50Speaker 6: through the qualifying Well, will you remember the most from
- 10:53Speaker 6: these three weeks?
- 10:56Speaker 9: I think that much. Honestly, it happened so quickly, it happened,
- 11:00Speaker 9: so a lot of things happened, So I feel like
- 11:03Speaker 9: I will just need a lot of time to process it.
- 11:06Speaker 9: But definitely, I mean unbelievable three weeks really.
- 11:11Speaker 6: Between your ranking going up so high, your prize money
- 11:15Speaker 6: that you earned, and you want fans all over the world,
- 11:18Speaker 6: you have new fame. Now, how life changing can this
- 11:21Speaker 6: experience be for you?
- 11:23Speaker 9: Well, I don't know. I guess i'll see. For now,
- 11:27Speaker 9: nothing changed for me. I just really felt the love
- 11:30Speaker 9: and support from all the fans, which I'm very grateful for.
- 11:34Speaker 9: I don't know what I did to deserve it, but
- 11:37Speaker 9: I'm very grateful, and I guess i'll see.
- 11:40Speaker 6: We love watching your road to the finals. Best of
- 11:42Speaker 6: luck in the future.
- 11:43Speaker 9: Thank you so much.
- 11:44Speaker 4: Up shaded.
- 11:47Speaker 1: One of the most surprising runs in tennis history, starting
- 11:50Speaker 1: off as a qualifier, putting together nine wins in a
- 11:52Speaker 1: row to get to this, losing only one set until
- 11:55Speaker 1: the final, when she lost in straights, tripling her career
- 11:58Speaker 1: money in two weeks, unable to pay for her hotel room,
- 12:03Speaker 1: poland having to step in and help her, eating pizza
- 12:06Speaker 1: with her team every night, her family saying we're exhausted
- 12:09Speaker 1: by this run.
- 12:10Speaker 2: It has been a whirlwind two three weeks and her
- 12:13Speaker 2: life will never be the same, absolutely will not.
- 12:16Speaker 3: I mean, she was going paycheck to paycheck, figuring out
- 12:19Speaker 3: where she was going to try and get into a
- 12:21Speaker 3: tournament the following week, never really knowing where she was
- 12:25Speaker 3: going next if she was able to afford a flight,
- 12:27Speaker 3: and so now obviously with the not only the paycheck
- 12:31Speaker 3: but also the points that she's made this week. She's
- 12:33Speaker 3: able to get into every tournament she wants to play.
- 12:36Speaker 3: She can plan more accordingly, she can maybe get a nutritionist.
- 12:40Speaker 3: Pizza's pella not the best route to eat before every
- 12:43Speaker 3: single match.
- 12:43Speaker 4: But you know, at the end of the day, what
- 12:46Speaker 4: a change for her.
- 12:47Speaker 3: And now people know who she is, they'll start looking
- 12:50Speaker 3: at her tapes. They'll understand what her game style is like,
- 12:53Speaker 3: which will also make it a lot harder for her
- 12:55Speaker 3: to just surprise people. And the little things like she
- 12:59Speaker 3: will need to show up a media every week. She will,
- 13:02Speaker 3: people will notice her, she'll sign autocraft. There's those little
- 13:05Speaker 3: things that make a difference. And she's gonna start understanding
- 13:10Speaker 3: what it really is to be one of the top
- 13:12Speaker 3: names in the tournament.
- 13:13Speaker 5: Her life will never be the same, but in the
- 13:15Speaker 5: best way.
- 13:16Speaker 4: Oh yes, there's nothing.
- 13:18Speaker 5: There's no downside to this, right, She will continue to play.
- 13:22Speaker 4: She will make millions of dollars.
- 13:24Speaker 5: Probably by getting into slams and having good results. I
- 13:27Speaker 5: think for her and her country. It's such a huge
- 13:31Speaker 5: impactful moment. And look at her and taking loo She's
- 13:33Speaker 5: so cute, she's so sweet, Like it's such a deserving moment,
- 13:36Speaker 5: and although we wish she wishes the result would have
- 13:39Speaker 5: been different, it's still incredible because you know, there's so
- 13:42Speaker 5: many people that never make a Grand Slam final in
- 13:44Speaker 5: their entire career.
- 13:45Speaker 4: There's people who never make.
- 13:46Speaker 5: A semi final, quarter final, nothing right, So to be
- 13:48Speaker 5: able to have this moment, to share it, and then
- 13:50Speaker 5: to share it with your country and all of Poland,
- 13:52Speaker 5: and again to be in the shadow of Ega this
- 13:55Speaker 5: whole time, who has dominated this tournament for so many years,
- 13:58Speaker 5: it's an incredible moment for her and her family, her country,
- 14:01Speaker 5: and it's something that she can be very proud of.
- 14:03Speaker 8: No way, I think people like her too. Everyone likes
- 14:05Speaker 8: an underdog, right, But it's the way she plays. It
- 14:09Speaker 8: was different than everyone and I think if she was
- 14:11Speaker 8: six foot one and crushing the ball, it wouldn't be
- 14:14Speaker 8: as good as a feel good story. But when you
- 14:16Speaker 8: watch her play, you almost think, if you're a player
- 14:18Speaker 8: at home, you like, I can kind of hit that
- 14:20Speaker 8: loop before, and I can hit a slice of that.
- 14:22Speaker 8: Obviously you can't, right, she's doing it at such a
- 14:24Speaker 8: high level, but there's something relatable about the way she
- 14:27Speaker 8: plays that I think translates to just like the club
- 14:31Speaker 8: player at home, right, and it's an easy story to
- 14:34Speaker 8: get behind.
- 14:35Speaker 1: It almost was like Survival Tennis, David and Goliath slingshot.
- 14:40Speaker 2: Let me just skip it up here and.
- 14:41Speaker 8: Throw it up the ball high hacked dropshots and I
- 14:43Speaker 8: kind of guess, And that's what she did.
- 14:44Speaker 2: And she was beating the best players.
- 14:46Speaker 1: In the world, frustrating, confusing, but finding a way to
- 14:49Speaker 1: keep it going. The Cinderella story was one to behold,
- 14:52Speaker 1: and it was very emblematic of this rolling Garros chaos
- 14:56Speaker 1: on the clay, leaving with us a draw that you
- 14:59Speaker 1: just chucked it away. But Mira is a Grand Slam
- 15:03Speaker 1: champion teenie, You're.
- 15:04Speaker 2: Right, pretty unbelievable. She has already accomplished at nineteen. I
- 15:09Speaker 2: want to thank me. I just showed Sam on this
- 15:11Speaker 2: video for the first time. It's incredible.
- 15:13Speaker 1: Snoop is one of a kind, and it's a reason
- 15:16Speaker 1: Mirah took that tagline and ran with it.