Teenager Mirra Andreeva will continue to work on her attitude after being given a point penalty for throwing her racket during a fourth-round loss to Madison Keys at Wimbledon.
The 16-year-old Russian, who has been a crowd favourite on her debut at the All England Club, looked set to become the youngest player since Anna Kournikova in 1997 to make the quarter-finals here when she led by a set and 4-1.
But Keys fought back and Andreeva was given her first warning by umpire Louise Azemar Engzell after flinging her racket across the grass when she lost the second-set tie-break.
She then appeared to slam her racket to the ground when Keys forced deuce at 2-5 in the deciding set, earning a second warning and an automatic point penalty, which gave her opponent a match point.
Andreeva argued her case with Azemar Engzell, saying: “Do you understand what you are doing? I didn’t throw the racket. I slid. It’s the wrong decision. I slid and then I fell.”
But the decision stood and Keys won the next point to clinch a 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-2 victory, with Andreeva heading to the net to briefly shake hands with her opponent but walking straight past the umpire.
The Russian said afterwards: “She’s the umpire. She’s the one who makes the decision. But, honestly, I didn’t have any intention to throw the racket. I slid. I thought that I will fall forward. Maybe it did look like I threw the racket.”
She was unrepentant about not shaking Azemar Engzell’s hand, adding: “For me, she didn’t do a right decision. That’s why I didn’t want to shake hands with her.”
Andreeva had feared being defaulted after whacking a ball angrily into the crowd at the French Open and teenage petulance is something she will clearly need to grow out of, but there is no doubt she is a special talent.
She is working through the issue by talking to herself in bed every night, and has taken encouragement from the way the likes of Roger Federer overcame teenage tantrums.
“I knew that Federer was struggling with emotions when he was teenager,” she said. “Actually when I was younger, I saw that, ‘Well, he was struggling also. I’m not the only one who also struggles’.
“I thought that I just need to wait a little bit and it will go away. But it doesn’t work like this. You just have to work on yourself. The faster you’ll do it, then the results will come also faster, I think. I started to work on myself just with myself. I think it works pretty good now.”
Andreeva had not played on grass until the qualifying tournament two weeks ago but she has learned quickly on the surface and is already an impressively complete player.
Keys, who was looking to make the quarter-finals here for the first time in eight years, helped her young opponent with a slew of errors but she changed her tactics midway through the second set to follow her big groundstrokes to the net and even broke serve with a left-handed forehand winner.
By the time the second-set tie-break came around, it was Keys who had the momentum, and the American kept her young opponent at arm’s length during the decider to set up a last-eight clash with second seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Keys, who won the warm-up tournament in Eastbourne, admitted she felt the pressure of the occasion, saying: “It’s tough being on the other side of the net of a 16-year-old who is really playing with nothing to lose and you’re the one that’s supposed to beat her.
“I think she’s a really great player on top of all of that. I think she moves incredibly well. I was very impressed with her serve. Overall I think she has a very solid game. It’s obviously going to improve with time.”
Now 28, Keys was once a teenage prodigy, and, asked what advice she would give Andreeva, she said: “I would say ignore everyone, and everything that they say, unless you actually care about their opinion.”
Andreeva is limited in the amount of senior tournaments she can play because of her age but she will be ranked close to the top 60 next week, which is more than high enough for entry to the US Open.
She relished her Wimbledon debut, saying: “For me, it was an amazing experience. Amazing matches I’ve played here. First time on grass. I’m happy with my result, but also at the same time I’m sad and disappointed a little bit. Next year I hope, and I will do my best, to do better.”
Madrid Open: Nadal roars to victory against De Minaur
Rafael Nadal delighted his home fans at the Madrid Open as he roared to an impressive victory over Alex de Minaur on Saturday.
The Spaniard battled to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory to earn his first win over a top-20 player in the world rankings since the ATP Finals back in 2022.
De Minaur had beaten Nadal last week in Barcelona, but the five-time Madrid champion was not to be denied this time in front of a crowd which included King Felipe VI along with football stars Zinedine Zidane and Vinicius Jr.
Emerging triumphant from an epic 77-minute opening set proved decisive, with Nadal more comfortable in the second as De Minaur missed an opportunity to become the first player to beat him in consecutive weeks since Novak Djokovic achieved the feat way back in 2011.
Nadal will take on Pedro Cachin in the third round after the Argentine dumped out Fances Tiafoe in three sets.
"I'm super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex and play over two hours," Nadal said, per the ATP Tour website.
"It means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke, so I can't thank enough everybody here.
"It still needs time [until I am back to my best]. I think for moments it has been a good level of tennis. I was able to do positive things, but still on and off.
"But I really believe that tennis hasn't been an issue for the last two years. More the physical issues.
"If I am able to play weeks in a row and if I am able to play tennis, then I'm going to see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. But that's not the case yet, just step by step and let's see how I recover."
Elsewhere at the tournament, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, playing as the top seed at a Masters 1000 event for the first time, cruised to victory over fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego to start his campaign in style.
It took Sinner just 69 minutes to win 6-0 6-3 and improve to 26-2 in a remarkable 2024 season so far.
“I know Lorenzo quite well and we have a good friendship off the court, we play Davis Cup together, we practise a lot together,” Sinner said.
“The mental side was a little bit different than it used to be, so I'm just happy how I handled the situation. He didn't play at his best. I think we saw this. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Progress was harder to come by for Daniil Medvedev as he lost the opening set to Matteo Arnaldi, though the third seed eventually battled through 2-6 6-4 6-4 to book a third-round clash with American Sebastian Korda.
There was a surprise result, though, with Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro ending the fine recent form of Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-4 6-4 victory.
Tsitsipas was 10-1 on clay this year going into the match, but the sixth seed crashed to a shock defeat just a week after Monteiro had lost in the first round of a Challenger Tour event in Portugal, marking a rapid reversal of his fortunes.
“Every week you have a new opportunity," said Monteiro. “These past few weeks I wasn’t feeling really good on the court. I was trying to do well at Challengers but it didn’t work.
“I just kept up the hard work, day by day. Even when I was not feeling good and not winning matches, I kept believing in myself, and this week it has paid off.
"For sure one of the biggest wins of my career. I knew it was a really tough match and I tried to just believe in myself all the time."
Sunday’s matches will see Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz continue his campaign with a third-round clash against Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Swiatek soars into Madrid Open last 16 after dropping just two games against Cirstea
Iga Swiatek stormed through to the Madrid Open last 16 following a dominant straight-sets victory over Sorana Cirstea.
The world number one dropped just two games as she inflicted a comprehensive 6-1 6-1 rout on her Romanian opponent in the Spanish capital.
Swiatek, who was runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in last year's event, will play Sara Sorribes Tormo in the round of 16 after the Spaniard defeated two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
The Pole is now 26-4 for the season, in which she has already triumphed at the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Open, as she eyes the ninth WTA 1000 singles title of her career.
Data debrief
Swiatek is through to her sixth round of 16 from seven main-draw appearances in WTA 1000 events on clay (85.7 per cent) - the highest percentage rate among players with at least five such appearances since the format's introduction in 2009.
The three-time French Open champion also boasts the best WTA match win rate of any player since 2000 on clay (87 per cent). Overall, only Chris Evert (94.5 per cent), Margaret Court (89.5 per cent) and Steffi Graf (89.2 per cent) boast a higher percentage in the Open Era.
Alcaraz begins Madrid Open campaign with emphatic win
Carlos Alcaraz continued his fine record at the Madrid Open with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory over Alexander Shevchenko on Friday.
The two-time defending champion made it 12 straight wins at his home tournament to ensure he will face Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild in the last 32.
Alcaraz was playing his first match on the ATP Tour since March 28 after being unable to compete in the Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open due to an arm injury.
But he was still able to make a fine start to his clay-court season, breaking serve in the first game and racing to victory in only one hour and eight minutes.
Data Debrief
Sometimes the scoreline can be harsh on a beaten player, but on this occasion Alcaraz was clearly dominant, breaking the Kazakh seven times in the match and forcing 11 break-point opportunities while conceding only three for his opponent.
That allowed the Spaniard to claim a dominant victory despite being broken once in each set. He will now turn his attention to a clash with Seyboth Wild, who battled past Lorenzo Musetti with a 6-4 6-4 win.
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