Mirra Andreeva produced a spectacular campaign at the 2026 French Open, bucking the trend of major upsets to clinch her maiden Grand Slam title. While the 19-year-old celebrated the milestone win with her mother in the stands, her elder sister, Erika Andreeva, watched the triumphant moment from afar.
Erika has revealed that her sister’s victory stirred mixed emotions for her, forcing her to contemplate the direction of her own professional tennis career.
Erika Andreeva Reflects on Sister Mirra Andreeva’s French Open Triumph
World No. 238 Erika Andreeva is currently working her way back up the rankings after stepping away from the tour following the 2025 Wimbledon qualifiers to focus on her mental well-being after a difficult losing streak. While competing in the qualifying rounds of this year’s grass-court Major, the 21-year-old opened up about her sentiments surrounding her sister’s French Open triumph.
Although Erika emphasized that she was proud of Mirra for overcoming her own obstacles to achieve Grand Slam glory, she admitted that the victory left her feeling “extremely bad” about herself and questioning her abilities.
“I will not lie, it is such a big pressure because you don’t feel the same way as you feel for your sister. I feel really proud of her, because I know her own challenges, things you don’t see on the screen, I know what she deals with. [But] for myself I feel extremely bad, that it’s almost like I’m not good enough, I have to do better. I see what’s going on close to me and basically we work [as] hard [as each other] and I feel like I’m not good enough, doing well enough, like how I’m supposed to do,” she said.
Despite her conflicted feelings, Erika said she was particularly proud of how Mirra handled her emotions and maintained her composure during her campaign in Paris, saying, “Honestly, I know since a very young age she was always struggling with the moments when something was not going her way, to stay in the game, to stay calm, to not let everything down.”
Erika gave special mention to the 19-year-old’s 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 comeback win over Marina Bassols Ribera in the second round.
“I remember one of the matches about which I was most proud was against [Marina] Bassols Ribera,” she added. “I wouldn’t say it was the best match of hers, tennis-wise, but I was just proud that she managed it without feeling her best in the shots that she relies on. She kept going even with a game that she doesn’t like. She managed to win.”
Hoping to reach the Wimbledon main draw, Erika Andreeva began her qualifying campaign with a dominant 6-0, 6-3 win over Ye-Xin Ma in the first qualifying round. However, the 21-year-old bowed out in the second round of qualifiers after a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Kayla Day.
Meanwhile, Mirra Andreeva kicked off her grass-court season on a disappointing note, suffering a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova in her opening match at the Bad Homburg Open. The Russian will look to regroup and display better form at Wimbledon, entering the women’s draw as the No. 5 seed.
