"I only have negative thoughts" - Mirra Andreeva opens up on the challenge to move on after French Open SF defeat
Mirra Andreeva shared why moving on from her semifinal defeat at the 2024 French Open will be challenging for her. The Russian's dream run at Roland Garros ended at the hands of 12th seed Jasmine Paolini, who ousted her 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Paolini set the tone from the first set, maintained her momentum in the second, and easily ended Andreeva's fairytale run. The pressure of the high-stakes French Open semifinal was evident on the Russian, who made 29 unforced errors—19 more than Paolini.
With her emphatic victory, Paolini became the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final since the 2015 US Open, where Flavia Pennetta defeated fellow Italian Roberta Vinci to claim her only Major title.
After her French Open exit, Mirra Andreeva mentioned how the straight-sets defeat impacted her psyche. She admitted that it was tough for her to stay positive and she would need some time to get past the negative thoughts. Speaking in the press conference, she said:
"Honestly, I haven't found this thing yet. After the losses it's always tough to start to think positive again. I mean, maybe not for everyone but for me I only have negative thoughts coming first and then if I talk to my team then maybe if few days will go on then maybe after I will have some thoughts that maybe I played good here," Mirra Andreeva said. [2:30]
Mirra Andreeva further reflected on her performance, acknowledging that while she could have done better in some areas, she thought the competition went well overall.
"Maybe I could have done better here but overall it was a good tournament. So I think for now we'll just need a couple of days to just wait until the negative thoughts will go away and I can clearly see the situation and then to make some conclusions out of this trip. And that's it." She added
Mirra Andreeva revealed that she didn't think of making it to the French Open semifinals
Mirra Andreeva expressed her surprise at reaching the semifinals of the French Open. The Russian admitted that if someone had asked her at the start of the tournament whether she expected to make it that far, she would have said no. Speaking in the press conference she said:
"If you would ask me in the beginning of the tournament that, do I expect to be in the semifinals I would say no. If somebody would tell me in the beginning of the week we'll you will be playing semifinals here, I was like what like stop joking so that was something I didn't really expect but I was just playing out there, trying my best." [3:48]
The Russian further explained that she performs best when she plays without overthinking and simply enjoys the moment. She applied this approach in her matches leading up to the semifinals
"I think when you just play well, me it works like when I play with no thoughts and just try to enjoy the moment I play the best. So that's what I did in this few matches before. So I didn't really expect myself in the semis but I was playing there in the end," she added.
Mirra Andreeva had an impressive French Open campaign, defeating Emina Bektas, Victoria Azarenka, Peyton Stearns, and Varvara Gracheva, before causing a surprise by eliminating second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.