Erika and Mirra Andreeva: The Next Tennis Sister Act?

The Andreeva family had a long day, with 16-year-old Mirra, a Russian tennis player, starting her French Open debut against Alison Riske-Amritraj of the United States at 11 a.m. She finished her match in just 56 minutes, improvising an array of easy, smooth winners against an opponent twice her age. Her older sister, 18-year-old Erika, played last on Court No. 14 against Emma Navarro, another American, and gave it her all before ultimately losing. The Andreeva sisters are tennis’s newest sister act, following in the footsteps of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, who won a total of 30 Grand Slam singles titles.

Like other successful sister acts, such as Naomi and Mari Osaka of Japan, sisterly success is often attributed to having a practice partner nearby and growing up with the motivation to overtake the older sibling. The Andreeva sisters began their tennis journey in Siberia before the family moved to Sochi and then to Cannes where they enrolled in a tennis academy. Despite starting early, younger sister Mirra made her mark recently at just 15 years old when she knocked off Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the round of 16 at the Madrid Open. Coached by separate coaches, the sisters take the game plan in, but play by feel. “If I feel that I have to do a drop shot, even though the score is not really appropriate to do a drop shot, I will do it anyways,” Mirra said.

Although watching her sister’s matches makes her more nervous than playing her own, Mirra will have to carry the family torch in Paris after Erika’s loss. She will face Diane Parry of France in the next round, but luckily, it beats chemistry, the subject which she said confuses her the most in her online school. For now, tennis comes much more naturally to her.