There has been a changing of the guard in the WTA rankings — and probably off the court, too — between two of the game’s most highly touted teenagers.
With her run to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open, Victoria Mboko — who just made her top-10 debut — will climb to at least No. 9 in the world next week. Mirra Andreeva, currently eighth, lost in the third round. Andreeva was the defending champion in Indian Wells, which means she has 1000 points coming off the board and will fall to No. 10 at best.
At just 19 years old, Mboko is doing all the right things on the court and saying all the right things off it. Between the lines, the Canadian crushed two-time Grand Slam runner-up Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-1 in the fourth round on Tuesday.
“I’m experiencing a lot of things for the first time,” Mboko said during her on-court interview. “To be out here playing top-10 players, playing top of the world, it’s really a privilege. I’m so happy to be competing at the highest level. Just keep going.”
In the immediate future, Mboko has another chance to prove that she belongs with the sport’s elite as she prepares to face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday. In the longer term, Mboko’s next shot at Grand Slam glory will come at the French Open this spring. She is currently the 10th favorite (+2800) to lift the trophy at Roland Garros, while Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka are the top two favorites.
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As for Andreeva, she was once the darling of the WTA Tour — with her infectious smile and charming interviews. She was winning a lot, too. Now, however, a relative slump has coincided with emotional breakdowns and temper tantrums.
Both were on display in Indian Wells. The 18-year-old imploded mentally in a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 loss to Katerina Siniakova on Monday, breaking one racket during the match and another after it. She left the court to boos and whistles from the fans, which she answered with apparent expletives in their direction.
“I’m not really proud of how I managed it,” Andreeva admitted during her post-match press conference. “It was to myself — to everyone, basically. I mean, after the loss, I just get very angry, so I say those things sometimes to myself. I mean, first to myself, of course, but then, yeah, it was just anger coming out. Just a lot of emotions — not really towards anyone.”
The Russian has a lot of work to do in an effort to get back in the good graces of tennis fans. Getting her game back to where it was in 2024 and the first half of 2025 would help, too.
Andreeva needs to get it together
BS article. Get a life Ricky you …..
???
Doesn’t seem that there’s anything wrong with this article to me…
probably an Andreeva fan who doesn’t like the facts!
Yeah probably, I like Andreeva too but I can’t deny that she is on a downfall
‘I would like to thank me…’ Yeah pride comes before a fall
That’s true, pride is dangerous
“Pride cometh before the fall” sounds even better for sermonising IMO, all Shakespearean/KJV. (BTW Big Al – did you spot the belated sombrero whose initial absence you pointed out?)
I thought the article was fair, Ricky. Them’s the facts etc. She’s 18 and might grow up, or not — some of them don’t. I think Sabalenka is much worse with poor behaviour and she’s a decade older. About on the same level as her male opponent in that exhibitionistic exhibition match last year. Imagine if they married and had little tennis babies. Genes and environment both present for maximum brat.👹
Sombrero was needed.
‘ Pride before a fall ‘ best example I heard in a sporting context was in Golf , Masters kate eighties. Ballesteros leading the final round. Must have thought he’d clinched it, blew kisses to the crowd. Then put the ball in water at the 15th . He never recovered from that moment .
That’s a great illustration. It’s a shame it’s not a more consistent thing; were it some kind of automatic inbuilt universal consequence, a lot of people would learn to be much nicer — even the sociopaths who don’t change out of consideration for others.
Swearing at the paying crowd like that won’t do her any favours, you win, you lose, deal with it, like all the other players do, for a player I actually did like, I must say I’ve lost alot of respect for Andreeva now, she’s turned into Danielle Collins overnight
yep
and lol at Collins catching strays
I don’t know much about Danielle Collins but I’ve got to say, I could see why she responded the way she did at the Australian Open in 2025. The crowd was so awful I was ashamed to be Australian. How much BS are players supposed to put up with? More people need turfing out of tennis stadiums for gross disrespect to players. Respect shouldn’t just be expected from the players, but equally from spectators.
imagine Mirra being coached by the late Jim Pierce, that would have been an interesting combination…
Nice “Pride/Fall” quote (above….but Mboko really IS a great story!!
And has a great surname. Really good sound. I wonder if it means “slayer of adversaries” or “sunny one” or something else.
A year ago, she had world at her feet, now she’s still …very young
The ‘congrats to me’ thing was Andreevas
Yeah. And when asked if she wanted to mention her team, saying no, it was all me me me. That raised eyebrows. I’ve subsequently wondered if she might have been teasing them with outrageous type humour, or if she really thought that. I spent some time in a great workplace where most of us got on incredibly well and would say the most outrageous things we didn’t mean to each other, to the great amusement of all participants. It completely shocked outsiders who walked in because they thought we meant it but we were just ad-libbing our little amusing group confection. It was so hilarious to say such unthinkable things to people you actually really liked and respected, and all of us were in on it.
Would be a shame to be lambasting Andreeva if it was that kind of exercise. Statistically hubris is probably more common than outrageous humour.
Andreeva is doing a combo of Rublev and Kyrgios out there these days, but it’s more to do with she expects a lot from herself, puts lots of pressure on herself and thinks she should be doing better,last year she started off well, but ended it by not even making the finals and I’m pretty sure she at least expected to do that, since the year before we so good for her, at Indian Wells and Dubai she probably really felt the pressure knowing she had to defend the titles, maybe now the pressure is off she can start to play better again.