Legendary tennis coach Rick Macci has identified a quality that sets Mirra Andreeva apart as he made a claim about how many Grand Slam titles the teenage star will win in her career.
Andreeva, who celebrated her 18th birthday in April, has already reached lofty heights since turning pro in 2022 and has been at a career-high ranking of world No 5 since July.
The Russian has won three singles titles, having lifted her maiden title at the WTA 250 event in Iasi in 2024 and secured back-to-back WTA 1000 events in Dubai and Indian Wells earlier this season.
Andreeva’s best Grand Slam result to date was reaching the semi-finals at the 2024 French Open, while she was a quarter-finalist at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this summer.
In an exclusive interview Tennis365, Macci did not hesitate to name Andreeva when asked who he expects to challenge the top WTA trio of Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.
“No doubt about it, the new sheriff in town: Mirra Andreeva. She’s one of the best young prospects I’ve seen in a long time,” the American said.
“And the reason why: mentally, she is cut from a different cloth, she’s a brutal, brutal competitor. She’s more mature now. But what she does a little bit different, she changes direction of the ball very early in the point.
“And we all know there’s a fine line between courage and stupidity. At the end of the day, this is what she does and she gets you out of your comfort zone. So that’s number one and she does that with conviction and with confidence.
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“And people gotta take a step back and understand, she’s only 18 and she’s five in the world. So I see greatness, and the thing about her game, once she gets into that number one category — one, two [in the rankings] — she’s not going anywhere, because she has too much competitiveness.
“She’s actually a very good mover, even though it was a little shaky on the clay and it took her a while to get going on the grass – I’m not worried about that.
“And let’s face it, most of the tournaments are on hard-court. But Mirra Andreeva’s the real deal and I think her future is as bright as anybody. A double digit Grand Slam winner.”
Macci continued: “I called this a couple of years ago, I knew where this was going. She (Andreeva) is gonna be number one.
“I think on hard courts, her movement is 20 to 25% better than on clay. I think she gets in and out of the corners better on the hard-court, and she uses the forehand slice.
“And I know a lot of coaches don’t like the kids or people to do that, but listen, the game is very different than even six years ago, 10 years ago.
“The game is so much faster and quicker, the ball speed, movement’s a premium, stroke mechanics is at an all-time high and you gotta have the forehand slice!
“I counted one match against Sabalenka, she did it over 30 times when she was out wide to live another day. She resets the point, but what she does different, she’s resetting the point low. She’s hitting the ball back with underspin.
“When you keep it out of the strike zone… so here’s Andreeva, that’s a part of her toolbox, that’s a part of her playbook, she chips the ball and keeps it in play where a lot of people reset it with topspin — and I’m not saying that’s wrong — but the people can step up and drive it from the shoulder. So when you keep it low, she lives another day.
“So that’s one piece that I love about her game. And she’ll throw in the drop shot, a lob and she’ll throw in the backhand slice and she’s not afraid to volley and take the ball out of the air.”
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