Mirra Andreeva’s Wimbledon adventure ended in controversial fashion as the 16-year-old Russian was docked a penalty point and refused to shake the umpire’s hand as she crashed out to 25th seed Madison Keys.
Andreeva’s journey from the qualifiers has captured the imagination and she looked odds-on to progress into the quarter-finals when she won seven games in a row to lead by a set and 4-1.
But as any parent will tell you, teenagers can be temperamental.
When Keys broke back with an incredible shot that saw her change racket hands mid-rally and then won the second set tiebreak 7-4, Andreeva reacted by aggressively chucking her racket as she walked to the chair and received a warning from Swedish umpire Louise Engzell.
That came back to bite her at 2-5 in the second set when the racket slipped from her hands and bounced off the grass chasing a volley.
Mirra Andreeva could not hold back her tears as her fairytale Wimbledon run was ended
Despite racing to take the first set 6-3, Andreeva unravelled after losing second set tie-break
She was accused of throwing her racket to the ground in frustration to give up a match point – but she insists she slipped to the floor
The chair deemed it another violation and deducted Andreeva a point, giving Keys a match point she duly took.
Andreeva protested in vain and refused to shake the umpire’s hand at the end of the two-hour match with the crowd showing their support for the teenager rather than officialdom.
It was a timely reminder that a few lessons in controlling emotions yet to be ironed out despite Andreeva’s obvious talent.
She spoke with composure an hour after the match but insisted her second offence was an accident and shouldn’t have led to losing a key point.
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‘For me it’s a controversial point because I’m not sure if – I don’t know which decision was right. She’s the umpire. She’s the one who makes the decision.
‘I didn’t throw the racket. I slid. I thought that I would fall forward otherwise,’ insisted Andreeva.
‘Maybe it did look like I threw the racket, I don’t know. That was her decision and now the match is over.
‘For me, she didn’t do a right decision for me. That’s why I didn’t want to shake hands to her.
‘I know that (Roger) Federer was struggling with emotions when he was teenager. When I heard that, I thought “Well, I’m not the only one who also struggles!”
Andreeva was seen remonstrating with the umpire, telling her she had made a ‘bad decision’
Madison Keys’ serve improved as the match went on and her experience eventually showed
‘I thought that I just need to wait a little bit and it will go away but it doesn’t work like this.’
To Andreeva’s credit, she didn’t try to shift the blame for her first offence which was a full hurl of the racket onto the turf when Keys had levelled the match at one set all.
‘I deserved the warning. I was a bit frustrated and threw the racket. She (the umpire) made the right decision.’
Keys, who is now into her first Wimbledon quarter-final, burst onto the scene as a teen idol herself a decade ago so had some sympathy for her opponent’s growing pains.
‘I would tell her to ignore everyone and everything unless you actually care about their opinion,’ she smiled.
‘She’s 16 at the end of the day. All these early matches will just be more experience for her later in her career.’
For the first set and a half, Andreeva – who is based in France – looked as if she was going to blitz the American off the court in less than an hour.
The 28-year-old American admitted that she was feeling the nerves against the fearless teen
But at 1-4, Keys started to be more aggressive, getting depth on her groundstrokes that set up some impressive volleys at the net.
The break-back point was a beauty, Keys switching her racket from right hand to left so she could play a forehand winner from the acutest of angles.
For the first time, Andreeva started to look like the world No102. Keys began the tiebreak with a crashing passing shot onto the left-hand corner of the baseline and was never behind, winning 7-4.
Andreeva had a break point at the start of the third but failed to take it and then double-faulted to allow Keys to move 2-0 ahead. The American never relinquished control and completed the match with a second break right at the end albeit in those controversial circumstances.
Having been made to face match point by the umpire’s ruling, Andreeva thought she’d saved it with a strong first serve, only for Keys’ challenge to determine it had flown out. Keys then swatted away the second serve to book her place in the last eight.
Andreeva can now go back to being a normal teenager again. ‘I will take some days off to relax. I don’t want to play for a few days, for sure,’ she said.
Andreeva had never played on a grass-court prior to competing this month at Wimbledon
A sight-seeing trip to London might be on the agenda. Having previously said she felt too shy of introducing herself to Andy Murray, she thinks it might be a target at the US Open. ‘If I see him, maybe,’ she said.
Keys still has work to do at this championship. ‘This was a tricky match,’ she admitted. ‘Mirra is 16 so plays very free, incredibly well at times. And it was tough to be the one who is supposed to beat her.
‘I just thought if I could keep the pressure on, she hasn’t been in many situations like it.
‘I kind of always forget I’m not bad at the net. I should probably get up there more often.
‘Wins like this give you confidence that even if things aren’t going perfectly, you still find a way.’
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