{"id":1843899,"date":"2026-03-24T14:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1843899"},"modified":"2026-03-24T14:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:15:22","slug":"miami-open-mirra-andreeva-accused-of-making-mistakes-on-purpose-by-former-world-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1843899","title":{"rendered":"Miami Open: Mirra Andreeva accused of &#8216;making mistakes on purpose&#8217; by former world No 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Miami Open: Mirra Andreeva accused of \u2018making mistakes on purpose\u2019 by former world No 1<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/oli-dickson-jefford\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Oli Dickson Jefford                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"24 Mar 2026 2:15 PM\" data-ps-date=\"24 Mar 2026 2:15 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1774361722\"><br \/>\n                            24 Mar 2026 2:15 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred 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<\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 dark:hidden h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_light.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn-hidden\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Miami Open: Mirra Andreeva accused of \u2018making mistakes on purpose\u2019 by former world No 1\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mirra-Andreeva-Dinara-Safina-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Mirra Andreeva and Dinara Safina.\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                WTA Tour players Mirra Andreeva and Dinara Safina.                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Former world No 1 Dinara Safina has questioned whether Mirra Andreeva is \u201cmaking mistakes on purpose\u201d after the teen star slumped to a three-set defeat at the Miami Open.<\/p>\n<p>World No 10 and eighth seed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/mirra-andreeva\">Andreeva<\/a> reached the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event in Miami, before tasting defeat to tenth seed and close friend<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/victoria-mboko\"> Victoria Mboko<\/a> on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>After dropping a tight opening set, the 18-year-old responded well and broke in the final game of the second set to force a decider, though then fell away significantly in a 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-0 loss to her Canadian opponent.<\/p>\n<h2>Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\/how-victoria-mboko-can-achieve-latest-wta-rankings-breakthrough-run-continues\">Miami Open: How Victoria Mboko can achieve latest WTA Rankings breakthrough as run continues<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/miami-open-sebastian-korda-john-mcenroe-key-advice-carlos-alcaraz-upset\">Miami Open: Sebastian Korda reveals \u2018key\u2019 advice John McEnroe gave him before Carlos Alcaraz upset<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Andreeva appeared visibly frustrated during the opening set, and her defeat continued a tricky patch of form, with the 18-year-old not seemingly at her best during the opening months of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian lifted the Adelaide International title back in January, though was then beaten in the fourth round of the Australian Open by Elina Svitolina, and then fell early in her title defences at the Dubai Championships and Indian Wells.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\/indian-wells-open-mirra-andreeva-makes-not-really-proud-admission-swear-spectators\">Andreeva drew a particularly frustrated figure during her Indian Wells round-three loss<\/a>, and her on-court emotional control has been questioned since an overall downturn in form since last summer.<\/p>\n<p>And, former world No 1 and three-time Grand Slam finalist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/dinara-safina\">Safina<\/a> has now questioned whether her compatriot is entering the court in the right mindset.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the <em>Best Tennis Podcast<\/em>, in quotes reported by <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.championat.com\/tennis\/news-6405334-oschuschenie-kak-budto-ona-specialno-oshibaetsya-safina-o-porazhenii-andreevoj-v-majami.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Championat<\/em><\/a>, Safina questioned whether Andreeva was intentionally committing unforced errors to send a message to her team.<\/p>\n<p>She said (translated from Russian): \u201cI was watching the third set and saw Mirra break and win the second set.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe [Andreeva] called for physio\u2026 I basically thought she was about to start a super third set because Mboko was a bit down after losing the second set, but it was a very strange start.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, I was surprised by how lacking that composure was. How composed she was in breaking the second set to win it, and how focused she was in the third set\u2026 Correct me if I\u2019m wrong, but sometimes Mirra\u2019s mistakes seem emotional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t say she\u2019s doing anything wrong, but she makes mistakes\u2026 I get the feeling she\u2019s making mistakes on purpose. That\u2019s how it looks from the outside. I could be wrong, but it feels like after every mistake she wants to turn back to her box and say: \u2018Look, see, I made a mistake!&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Andreeva reached a career-high of world No 5 last summer, following her runs to her first WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The 18-year-old also reached back-to-back quarter-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2025, though has only reached one quarter-final at either Grand Slam or WTA 1000-level since then.<\/p>\n<p>Safina further questioned whether Andreeva was capable of handling the expectations put on her, following her fast rise up the WTA Rankings since her breakthrough at the 2023 Madrid Open.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what Mirra\u2019s going through right now, of course. I can only guess \u2014 she can\u2019t handle the pressure,\u201d added the former world No 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Anya [Chakvetadze] and I record the podcast, we talk a lot about how players\u2019 desire to quickly reach the top, second, or third rankings in the world, to win a Grand Slam \u2014 it\u2019s a colossal burden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey might not be able to handle it. You have to be prepared for everything, and when this weight of responsibility hits them, when they start demanding victories and expectations, they immediately say, : \u2018What are you demanding of us? What do you expect from us?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that\u2019s part of your job, your profession. It\u2019s normal that you have a certain rating, and advertisers, coaches, people, your fans demand or expect results from you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Andreeva is currently set to return to action at the Women\u2019s Stuttgart Open, with the world No 10 joining the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, and Iga Swiatek on the entry list.<\/p>\n<p>It will be the first clay-court tournament of 2026 for the 18-year-old.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/miami-open-stefanos-tsitsipas-ashamed-umpire-rant-arthur-fils-loss\">Miami Open: Watch as Stefanos Tsitsipas lambasts umpire in \u2018ashamed\u2019 rant in brutal Arthur Fils loss<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miami Open: Mirra Andreeva accused of \u2018making mistakes on purpose\u2019 by former world No 1 Oli Dickson Jefford 24 Mar 2026 2:15 PM WTA Tour players Mirra Andreeva and Dinara Safina. Former world No 1 Dinara Safina has questioned whether Mirra Andreeva is \u201cmaking mistakes on purpose\u201d after the teen star slumped to a three-set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1843899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1843899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1843899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1843899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1843899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}