Mirra Andreeva admits what baffles her when she watches old videos of Roger Federer playing tennis

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Mirra Andreeva has emulated a long list of legendary players with her Dubai Tennis Championships win, which represents her second WTA title.

Andreeva has clinched her first WTA 1000 title, with the 17-year-old defeating Clara Tauson in the Dubai Tennis Championships final.

She has now jumped from 14th to ninth in the WTA rankings, with Laura Robson excited to see Andreeva at the French Open.

The teenage star reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2024, a year in which she won her first WTA title in Iasi.

Andreeva is now the youngest WTA 1000 champion ever, having beaten Tauson 7-6(7-1), 6-1 after one hour and 46 minutes.

Mirra Andreeva blown away by Roger Federer when watching his old videos

Hugely impressively, the 17-year-old beat Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova on her way to the Dubai trophy.

All three are Grand Slam champions, although it was 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer who Andreeva referenced in her winning press conference.

Having mentioned basketball star LeBron James, she was asked if there are any other champions she looks to for inspiration, such as Federer.

READ MORE: Serena Williams’ former coach predicts where Mirra Andreeva will be ranked at the end of 2025 after her win in Dubai

“Well, when I want to motivate or inspire myself, I’m watching some of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and of course my idol since I was very, very young was Roger Federer,” she replied.

“Before the matches I’ve been watching highlights of him playing finals of the Australian Open in 2017 against [Rafael] Nadal.

“Before the match, I was watching some highlights. I was like, damn, how can he play like this? This is something extraordinary.

“How can a person just look good first, play like not that he doesn’t care, but play like everything is great even though he’s losing 1-6, 3-6, it’s the fifth set.

“I knew he was losing 1-3 in the fifth. How can you just look good, play amazing, then in the end win the Slam?

“Yeah, I’ve been watching a lot of Federer videos and some speeches. Of course, some as well of Nadal, [Andy] Murray and [Novak] Djokovic.

“I love those tennis idols that are idols to everyone. Mostly I would say I’m watching tennis. I would say I watch tennis more than basketball or football or whatever.”

Mirra Andreeva becomes first new WTA top 10 player since Emma Navarro

While Andreeva is using a handful of tennis legends as inspiration, she is now certain to be inspiring other players.

Aged just 17, she is already a two-time WTA champion and a top 10 player, with plenty more success now certain to arrive in the near future.

READ MORE: Matteo Berrettini builds his perfect tennis player as he picks who had a better forehand out of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

The upper echelons of the WTA Tour now finally has a new face to welcome, with Andreeva the first player to break the top 10 since Emma Navarro in September 2024.

She has become the 154th top 10 player in WTA history, and the seventh in the last 30 years to make her top 10 debut before her 18th birthday.