Is Mirra cooler than the Williams sisters? American women 25 years ago, like Andreeva, played with a man.

Is Mirra cooler than the Williams sisters? American women 25 years ago, like Andreeva, played with a man.

Arina Poluyanova December 21, 2023, 14:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Serena and Venus were worse against the ATP player than the 16-year-old Russian.

Mirra Andreeva recently started playing on the professional circuit, but she has already gained experience that not all WTA tennis players have. In December, at an exhibition tournament in Bourg-de-Page, France, a 16-year-old Russian woman had to play an entire match with a man. Although Mirra lost to the world’s number 1145 racket player, Yanis Ghazouani Duran, by 5:7, 2:6, she still received the tournament trophy.

A similar incident occurred with the Williams sisters in 1998. Then, at one of the press conferences during the Australian Open, Serena stated that she was ready to play a match with a man below the top 200 of the ATP rankings. The German Karsten Braasch immediately accepted the challenge. There was a time when she played among the top 40 tennis players in the world, but during the AO-1998 period she was ranked 203rd and perfectly suited the needs of 16-year-old Williams.

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The organizers of the Australian Open accepted the American adventure and organized a match for the star sisters with Braasch. Serena played the first set. Only that in that match against a man she did not achieve significant success: the German took the match with an almost overwhelming score of 6: 1. Venus decided to play the second set and was defeated 2-6.

Subsequently, the Williams sisters failed to take revenge on the tennis player. Yes, this may no longer be necessary.

The stories of the Williams sisters and Andreeva are in line. Yes, Mirra did not play with a man of her own free will: it happened that way, because the Frenchman Duran turned out to be the only replacement for Donna Vekic and Marta Kostyuk who starred. But still, the Russian woman, like the Americans 25 years ago, faced a man on the court. And this always becomes an extraordinary case for tennis players.

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Mirra, by the way, had a slight advantage over the Williams sisters in the match against the man. The Russian, if you look at the score, played much more effectively with an opponent of the opposite sex. And if Andreeva, like Venus in 1998, lost the second set 2-6, then the young Russian took the first game in the wrestling match with a score of 7-5. Super result!

After losing to Ianis Ghazouani Duran, Mirra commented on perhaps the most unusual match in his budding career.

Mirra Andreeva

Photo: Getty Images

“Unreal atmosphere and organization. Thanks to everyone who came to today’s game. And this is actually the first time I’ve held a trophy after losing a match. I hope this is the last time this happens to me (laughs). Everything was going well until the moment you (addressing Ghazouani) defeated me today. But you played very well, I think you deserved the cup too. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand that (laughs),” Andreeva shared on the court after the match.

Before the official start of the season, Mirra will participate in another exhibition tournament: the World Tennis League. The competition will take place from December 21 to 24 in Abu Dhabi. Andreeva will play in the “Eagles” team together with Andrei Rublev, Daniil Medvedev and Sofia Kenin.