Mirra Andreeva arrived at Roland Garros 2026 after an excellent clay court swing and told reporters she was looking forward to the tournament, saying: "Preparation is going great. I love playing in Paris and I love playing on these clay courts. I’m super excited to be back. Last year, I achieved a great result here, and I also feel like I’ve had a very good start to the season on clay. I'm very excited to start the tournament on Sunday."
The numbers underline the stage she has reached: this is already her fifth year in Paris, and she first played the junior tournament there in 2022. "This is already my fifth year in Paris. In 2022, I played the junior tournament, so I've been coming here for quite some time," Andreeva said, linking her youth tournament experience to the senior-level progress that has followed. She also reminded listeners that last year she produced a notable run at Roland Garros, a result she clearly wants to build on after a productive clay swing this season.
Her comments about doubles have become a revealing window into how she manages the week-to-week grind. Andreeva described doubles as a pressure valve: "I think I play doubles well because I simply love playing it. When I play doubles, I'm not as stressed or nervous, and I really focus on having fun. Playing doubles reminds me of when my sister and I played ping-pong. It was all laughs, fun, and competitiveness at the same time." She repeated that the lower stakes of doubles let her enjoy matches more: "I have exactly the same feeling playing doubles. Obviously, I want to win, but above all, I’m enjoying the match on the court very much. I think the key is that I feel much less pressure." That relief, she said, is something she is trying to carry into singles.
That intention matters because Andreeva has been candid about the hard edge she can bring to herself on court. "Obviously, there are still moments when I am tough on myself because sometimes I don't like how I am playing or I lose a point that I feel I should have won," she said. The notable development is not that the frustration exists, but that she says it has abated: "But lately, I feel it has improved a lot. I am realizing that when I don’t react negatively to what happens on the court and speak to myself positively, everything is much easier." In her account, positive thinking "helps me think better, make better decisions, and make fewer errors," a small psychological shift with outsized potential impact on match outcomes.
The Parisian arena itself creates another friction point. Andreeva acknowledged the practical difficulty of playing a French opponent on home soil: "It's never easy to play against a French player, especially in Paris, because obviously, the crowd will support her a lot, and that's totally normal." That reality — partisan crowds amplifying pressure moments — is precisely the test for the calmer, more positive approach she says she is cultivating.
One clear supporting force in that process is the presence of experienced guidance: coaching veteran Conchita Martínez has a key role in Andreeva's competitive growth. Combine that mentorship with a successful clay lead-in, the experience of five years of Paris visits dating back to the 2022 junior event, and the deliberate use of doubles as a mindset tool, and the picture is plain. Mirra Andreeva has taken concrete steps to turn raw talent into composed performance; if she sustains this mental reset, she looks well positioned to convert her clay-court form into another deep showing at Roland Garros 2026.
