Mirra Andreeva’s not-so-secret weapon in her Wimbledon title tilt is the former champion sitting in her box.
The 18-year-old is on her best run so far at the All England Club having reached the quarter-finals, where she will take on Belinda Bencic on Wednesday.
Andreeva has lost more than three games in a set only once this fortnight and was so mentally locked in during her fourth-round victory over Emma Navarro on Monday that she did not realise she had won.
It was a funny moment, but a sign to her coach Conchita Martinez of her player’s focus, with the Spaniard saying: “It is very nice to see.
“No matter how or what, she is going for the next point and the next point. That is going to make a huge difference in her game.”
Martinez knows very well what it takes to be a Wimbledon champion having lifted the trophy herself in 1994 and then guided Garbine Muguruza to the title eight years ago.
The pair first began working together in April last year and the young Russian has already made huge progress, reaching the semi-finals of the French Open, winning two WTA 1000 titles and breaking into the top 10.
Martinez believes the success of their partnership is how well they gel on and off court despite the generational gap.
In a role reversal on Tuesday, Andreeva could be found at the side of Court 16 cheering on her coach in an invitation doubles match alongside Britain’s Greg Rusedski holding a home-made sign reading: “Let’s go senorita. You are golden.”
“Her mentality on court – she is very accepting,” said Martinez. “Sometimes on grass, you are not going to have a perfect match. Sometimes you are going to suffer and you have to give credit to the other player.
Everyone needs a cheerleader like Mirra Andreeva! 📣
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 8, 2025
She was courtside to support her coach 🙌#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/INpxpoCOqa
“I like her behaviour a lot in that sense. And when she is positive on the court and fighting for every ball, she becomes very dangerous. That is what we are seeing this week.
“It is very important to have a good chemistry together. And this happened from the moment we knew each other.
“She is a very nice girl, very thoughtful, so it is very pleasant to work with someone who is thankful and thoughtful about the team. Off the court, she smiles a lot, we can play cards, we can laugh about different things.
“That is very nice. And on the court, I like it that she is still very young and still has a lot of things to get better at so it makes it fun for me to work on these things.”
Rusedski, meanwhile, is not surprised to see the partnership flourishing.
He said of Martinez: “She understands the game. She knows pressure. She knows expectation. And she has that patience. We saw in Paris, they had a little bit of an argument in the match that she lost but that is the respect they have for each other.
“Sometimes you need to know when to have friction and when to have calmness. With Andreeva this year, she has shown us a lot of beautiful variety. She has come through two very difficult matches convincingly.
“She is the dark horse for the title right now. When you have someone who has won the title coaching you, that is a big plus.”
