Martina Navratilova says there is a former WTA player who Mirra Andreeva plays like.
The teenager is the talk of the tennis world after winning the two biggest titles of her career back-to-back.
After claiming the Dubai Tennis Championship crown, Andreeva headed to the Californian desert and proceeded to become Indian Wells champion.
She is now the World number six and Andreeva will contour to be a problem for the top players on the WTA Tour.
Who does Martina Navratilova think Mirra Andreeva plays like?
Mirra Andreeva is showing great poise and consistency for a player at such a young age.
The 17-year-old’s resilience is another impressive quality as she battled back from a set down to defeat Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final.
She possesses what looks like such a complete game despite being just 17, and the sky is the limit for Andreeva. In fact, Martina Navratilova has already compared the teenager to four-time Grand Slam champion, Justine Henin.
“I mean, the way she plays is more like [Justine] Henin. She’s got the slice and is really great down the line on both sides. Henin attacked the down-the-line return,” the 18-time Grand Slam champion told the WTA website.
“Moved well, but Mirra has a bigger serve and a bigger game. And those drop shots. The slice did some damage with Sabalenka.
“The guys have been using the slice pretty well the last 10, 15 years but the women have discovered it recently, seeing how it works.”
Martina Navratilova compared Mirra Andreeva to an ATP player
Andreeva completed an Indian Wells final comeback victory with great touch around the net and excellent defensive skills.
Sabalenka was unable to find a way to hit through Andreeva in sets two and three, which caused her to make more unforced errors.
Navratilova was impressed by what Andreeva brought to the table, to the point that she compared her to Carlos Alcaraz.
“I think the closest comparison is the way Alcaraz plays,” the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion told Sky Sports after the Indian Wells final.
“She can play offence, she can play defence. She gets a lot more balls back than people expect. She is so above her years.”
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