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Bent implicit with her hands covering her face, her knees getting dirtied connected the reddish clay court, Mirra Andreeva was celebrating — processing mightiness beryllium the much due word — however she had yet flooded “so galore demons inside” that came with being a teenage tennis phenom.
After bursting onto the country astatine 15, Andreeva became a Grand Slam champion astatine 19 erstwhile the Russian ended the tally of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph successful the French Open last connected Saturday (June 6, 2026).
“I've done a batch of visualizations before. Not conscionable this tournament, but I've had dreams, I've had a batch of thoughts connected however it's going to happen, if it's going to happen, erstwhile it's going to happen, where,” Andreeva said, inactive hardly breathing arsenic she talked rapidly successful existent teenage style. "The feeling successful existent beingness is truthful overmuch amended than successful your dreams.
“I tin telephone myself a Grand Slam champion,” Andreeva added.
The biggest challenges for Andreeva person not been connected the tribunal — she already has 1 of the champion attacking baseline games successful the athletics — it's been the intelligence side. And her stubbornness.
“Her cognition is difficult,” said Conchita Martinez, Andreeva's manager and a erstwhile Wimbledon champion. “You archer her something, and possibly she's not unfastened to listening. ... When she works hard and erstwhile she listens and she does everything, she has nary limits.” Andreeva acknowledged arsenic overmuch during the trophy ceremony.
“I cognize I tin beryllium a pugnacious cooky sometimes and it's beauteous hard to enactment up with me,” Andreeva said.
The triumph took Andreeva 1 measurement further than Martinez, who mislaid the 2000 French Open last to Mary Pierce.
Pierce presented the winner's trophy to Andreeva, who became the youngest pistillate to triumph the clay-court Grand Slam since Monica Seles was 18 erstwhile she claimed her 3rd consecutive French Open successful 1992.
“You're truthful young and talented. It's truthful annoying,” the 24-year-old Chwalinska told Andreeva.
Andreeva took the antithetic measurement of thanking herself “for believing successful myself, ever giving my 100%, adjacent erstwhile it's tough, trying each time to beryllium amended arsenic a idiosyncratic and arsenic a player, believing that I tin bash this, warring truthful galore demons wrong of me.
“Only I cognize however pugnacious it was for me,” Andreeva added. “How tense I was passim these 2 weeks.”
Andreeva besides thanked her psychologist, who she said was watching from Florida: “Everything that you've told maine I've been trying to usage these 2 weeks.”
Chwalinska opens up astir depression
Chwalinska was attempting to go the archetypal qualifier to seizure the Roland Garros title. She was a promising inferior alongside four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek earlier she began struggling with slump successful 2019.
“Tennis is specified a pugnacious sport. It's truthful individual. We commencement truthful early. We are fundamentally kids erstwhile we start,” Chwalinska said. “People are expecting that we are going to behave similar adults already and we are conscionable kids really. So the unit is huge.” Andreeva was calved successful Siberia and moved to Sochi and yet France to make her tennis career.
She drew a large applause from the assemblage connected Court Philippe-Chatrier erstwhile she spoke a fewer words of French during the trophy presentation.
“Thanks for your enactment contiguous and implicit these past 2 marvelous weeks present successful Paris,” Andreeva said successful French. “It was precise important for me.”
Breakthrough astatine 15
Andreeva has been considered a Grand Slam contender since she burst onto the country arsenic a 15-year-old astatine the 2023 Madrid Open, wherever she became the third-youngest subordinate to triumph a main gully lucifer astatine a WTA 1000 tourney and made the quarterfinals.
Lately, Andreeva has had to contend with playing nether neutral presumption and without her country's emblem due to the fact that of the warfare with Ukraine.
When she bushed Marta Kostyuk successful the semifinals, Kostyuk refused to shingle her hand, arsenic has been the customized for Ukrainian players facing Russians ever since the warfare started successful 2022.
“Every idiosyncratic doesn't privation to person a warfare successful the world,” Andreeva said. “I ne'er deliberation astir those things erstwhile I play.”
Mastering the wind
The last was played nether a mostly sunny sky, though upwind was a origin successful the archetypal Grand Slam last for some players.
Chwalinska double-faulted connected the opening constituent of the match, but she was the archetypal subordinate to clasp service successful the 5th crippled for a 3-2 lead.
But past Andreeva won 9 stright games to instrumentality power arsenic she recovered a mode to deed done the upwind and reply Chwalinska's array of spins and driblet shots.
Whereas Chwalinska would retreat to grip precocious balls successful the wind, Andreeva often would determination guardant and instrumentality balls connected the rise.
“She decidedly handled upwind overmuch amended than me,” Chwalinska said. “She was not moving distant from the ball.” Andreeva produced 25 winners to Chwalinska's 10 and besides had less unforced errors: 26 to 29.
There was a beardown Polish beingness successful the crowd.
When Chwalinska was introduced, fans held aloft red-and-white Polish flags and chanted her name: “Ma-ja, Ma-ja.” Andreeva had small enactment from the crowd, though determination was a outcry of “Davai, Mirra!” (“Go, Mirra”) successful Russian precocious successful the match.
Alexander Zverev plays Flavio Cobolli successful the men's last connected Sunday to reason the wildest Grand Slam successful caller memory.
