Tennis: Only 19 and already in the final of the French Open

Truly miraculous things are happening at this French Open, in the first week it was as hot as a sauna, there were rows and rows of duels that lasted three, four, five hours, basically boxing matches took place at the Bois de Boulogne, only instead of mittens the players wore tennis rackets. Surprisingly, numerous favorites failed, and so it was already clear before the weekend’s decisions: there will be champions for both men and women who will receive a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in their careers. In fact, this Paris edition is the first Grand Slam tournament since 1977 in which no former Grand Slam winner is in the semi-finals of either competition.

In the women’s category, the Ukrainian Marta Kostjuk, 23, and the Russian Mirra Andrejewa, 19, played against each other on Thursday, before the Polish Maja Chwalinska, 24, and the Russian Diana Schnaider, 22, followed (after publication of this article). For the first time, all four semi-finalists were born in the 2000s, the next novelty. It was then Mirra Andrejewa who won 6:1, 6:3 after just 1:15 hours. The world number eight reached a final for the first time in her 13th start in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. She is also the youngest Grand Slam finalist since American Coco Gauff, who lost to Poland’s Iga Swiątek in the final at the 2022 French Open.

“I was very nervous before the match,” Andreyeva said during the interview on Court Philippe-Chatrier and praised Kostyuk, “she is a great player.” Her 19 years were now evident, even if she had given the impression of an experienced player on the pitch earlier. “I’m super happy with how I played. And I’m very happy to reach my first Grand Slam final,” she said with refreshing enthusiasm. She admitted: “I’ve never felt anything like this. I’m really excited.”

For years, Andrejewa has belonged to a category of players who are often referred to as child prodigies. But there are no real miracles in tennis either. Andrejeva is an extremely talented athlete in her discipline, and when her talent was recognized early on, the parents put everything on one card and invested in their daughter. It was primarily mother Raisa who wanted to support her child; Russian Marat Safin’s Australian Open victory in 2005 had significantly encouraged her to give her future offspring a similar path. For better training conditions, the family moved from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to Moscow and then to Cannes, where Andreyeva was taught in an academy by two French trainers.

Andreyeva’s semi-final against Kostyuk was just as one-sided as the result reads; at no point was Kostyuk able to reach the level with which she had recently recorded a furious series of 17 match wins in a row. In Paris, the world number 15 had. to cope with a particularly stressful balancing act from near Kiev. Twice she woke up to the terrible news that bombs were again falling on Kiev in her homeland; a Russian attack missed her family home, where her mother, sister and great-aunt were staying, by just 100 meters. Kostyuk tearfully dedicated her quarterfinal victory against her compatriot Elina Svitolina, 31, to the Ukrainian people who are resisting.

“I wish there was a clearer stance on current events – especially when your own country is killing other people,” says Kostyuk, referring to Russian opponents

In this emotional world she then had to compete against the Russian Andrejewa in the semi-finals, an emotional confrontation per se. Duels between Ukrainians and Russians in tennis continue to be a stress test for both sides, even four years after the Russians’ first attack on Ukraine. It is well known that Ukrainians refuse to shake hands with Russians after matches, and that was the case this time too. And the duel was a little personal. Before the semi-final, Kostyuk had indirectly criticized Andreyeva and said when it came to her upcoming opponent: “I wish there was a clearer stance on current events – especially when your own country is killing other people. I don’t know how you can sleep peacefully at night when you know that something like this is happening and you have nothing to say about it.”

Andrejewa, who gives the impression that she has long been a citizen of the world – she speaks very good English, the former Spanish Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez, with whom she also likes to joke around, is her coach – certainly didn’t seem a bit stressed by this duel, nor by the importance of this game. She aimed her hard baseline shots over the net in a relaxed and carefree manner. She is still only 19 and yet already exudes considerable maturity. Kostjuk, for her part, was completely out of shape, her forehand was practically non-existent, and so the audience applauded out of sympathy when she scored points and won individual games.

At 1:6, 1:4 the roof was closed, apparently rain was expected. Kostyuk promptly made it 2:4. After a long rally, shouts of “Marta, Marta” rang out. But the 3:4 was only a brief glimmer of hope, Andrejewa stayed cool like a 35-year-old, constructed clever sequences of shots and also showed patience. After 75 minutes, it was she who dropped the racket in joy.