'Girly aura, positive vibes': The many sides of Roland Garros champion Mirra Andreeva

PARIS -- Long before she reached her first Grand Slam final, Mirra Andreeva often imagined what it would feel like to win a Grand Slam title. She wondered where it would happen, when it would happen and whether it would happen at all.

That dream became reality on Saturday. The 19-year-old Andreeva captured her first Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over qualifier Maja Chwalinska on Court Philippe-Chatrier, completing the breakthrough during just her fourth full season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.

"I'll be honest, I've done a lot of visualizations before," Andreeva said to press. "Not just this tournament, but I've had dreams. The feeling in real life is so much better than in your dreams. Looking at this trophy and realizing that this is actually true, and I can call myself a Grand Slam champion."

The road to this moment was not without its challenges.

After reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals in 2024, Andreeva broke through in a big way the following season, winning consecutive WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells before advancing to the semifinals here in Paris.

But with success came expectations. Unable to defend those titles this year, Andreeva acknowledged that she sometimes became her own toughest opponent. During her run to the Madrid final, moments of frustration and negative self-talk revealed the mental hurdles she was still learning to navigate.

Still, the teenager's aggressive game and strong defense in her court coverage fueled her titles first two titles this season in Adelaide and Linz, and with her victory Saturday, she's 3-1 in tour-level finals in 2026. Andreeva also credited her sports psychologist, who she consulted after her semifinal win over Marta Kostyuk and ahead of the final to get in the right state of mind. 

"I'm super proud, to tell you the truth. I mean, I cannot hide it," Andreeva's coach Conchita Martinez said to press. "It's been quite a long road. This Roland Garros, she was super focused, behaving super well on court, maintaining her composure.

"She was open to listening and to doing everything that is needed to win a Grand Slam. So I couldn't be prouder."

And now?

"Honestly, now I'm already thinking of how I'm going to prepare for the grass season," Andreeva said. "I feel like this thing is a little bit addicting, and I really want to do my best to experience all of this for the second time."

After the final, wtatennis.com spoke with the Roland Garros champion in Philippe Chatrier. Here's more from that conversation with Andreeva: 

You had a really stellar clay-court season with titles Linz and Roland Garros, and reaching the final in Madrid. Is it fair to make the argument that you're playing the best tennis in your career right now?

Andreeva: I think so, yes, because obviously, I would say that these are the best results that I've had so far in my career.

I would also say that winning Dubai and Indian Wells on hard court before this happened were the highlights of my career. Now obviously winning a Grand Slam title, I would say -- yes, I would say that maybe this is the best tennis that I've played so far.

When you won, your team in the player box all put on matching Nike T-shirts that read "Fight beyond your years" with an image of you. What does that phrase mean to you? 

Andreeva: Honestly, this was a very big surprise because I had no idea that this was happening and that they had this planned, that they had these T-shirts prepared. I have no idea what they would have done if I would've lost the final [laughing] because they had a lot of T-shirts and stuff for me when I won as well.

Honestly, it feels amazing because Nike is such a big company, and I had their support for so many years. To see that they've prepared something extra special for me especially when I won -- and that sentence "Fight beyond your years" -- for me, it's very, very special and very, very memorable.

Going back to the moment when you got to lift La Coupe Suzanne Lenglen and you got to sign your name into the clay plaque, what was the feeling of just doing both of those traditions?

Andreeva: When I saw that they were signing those clay plaques in the beginning of the week, every past champion that was here -- Coco [Gauff], Iga [Swiatek], Stan [Wawrinka] -- every time I was passing by this place, I was like 'It would be so nice to have my name on it. How special must that be for other players to sign, have their name and a signature on there?'

Now I have my name there as well with my signature, and it feels amazing to be part of so many great champions there.

Speaking of great champions, you mentioned Roger Federer and his "aura" during your press conference. Curious, how would you describe the "aura" of Mirra?

Andreeva: Oh my God, I don't know. I don't know if I even have aura when I play [laughing].

I think that the energy that is coming from me is laughter, jokes, girly aura with my blonde and curly hair. I feel a lot of like positive and nice vibes, maybe. But you got to tell me my aura, because I don't feel that [laughing].

You wore an all pink dress throughout the duration of tournament. What was the inspiration behind that?

Andreeva: What Nike came up with this year is the ballet theme, a collection, and I knew that this would be the collection because we've tried it on before and shared our experience as well.

Just to see that amazing dress and amazing clothes before I tried them on and played the tournament in. Usually, I like to change my clothes and my outfits, colors or I like to play in a skirt and a top.

This time, I chose to start a tournament with a dress, and I felt I started pretty good. Then after everyone started posting on social media the color, the pink, my nails, my notebook and I was like, "Well, I got to keep the pink dress on" and that became the outfit of the tournament. My initial plan was to change the outfits, but in the end, I decided to keep the pink one.