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Tennis teen prodigy Mirra Andreeva, 16, is playing in her first-ever Australian Open and made a big statement en route to making the second week of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Russia’s Andreeva was playing Diane Parry of France and fell behind early after a dominant 1-6 opening set from Parry.
Frustration boiled over for the 16-year-old, who found an interesting way to motivate herself.
Andreeva covered her face with her arm in frustration and took a deep bite that left a gnarly mark on her bicep. She also slammed her racket on the court before an epic rally to score a comeback win in a third-set tiebreak (1-6, 6-1, 7-6).
Teen prodigy Mirra Andreeva angrily bites own arm before making epic Australian Open comeback https://t.co/9objYd7LZY pic.twitter.com/sULxByWSoa
— New York Post (@nypost) January 19, 2024
After the match, Andreeva admitted that she wasn’t even convinced she would come back to win.
“At 5-1, I don’t know, I just tried to win at least one more game to not go 6-1, 1-6, 6-1,” Andreeva said. “Then 5-2, she has match points. I’m going to the net. I’m thinking, Am I crazy? I’m going to the net on match point. But then she missed a ball.”
That was all she needed to push her toward the win, but the 16-year-old still has higher goals for the tournament.
“Fourth round is nothing. Maybe if I win a slam, I have to win three more matches, and it’s really tough to win seven matches in a row,” she said. “I don’t think that I did something incredible (but) I have time to do it, I hope.”
Up next for Andreeva is a meeting with No. 9 seed Barbora Krejčíková in the fourth round on Saturday.
