“I copied some of them,” Mirra Andreeva draws inspiration from Carlos Alcaraz’s intense warm-up routine
Mirra Andreeva defeated No.30 seed Linda Noskova 6-1, 7-5 to reach the fourth round of the Italian Open.
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Mirra Andreeva and Carlos Alcaraz (via WTA/Sky Sports)
Carlos Alcaraz is one of the most cherished players because of his character on and off the court. But his on-court style of play has won him more love from fans and fellow players on tour. Mirra Andreeva revealed that she and her coach, Conchita Martinez, were inspired by the Spaniard’s drills before his third-round match.
Before going on to the court, Alcaraz usually does his intense and sometimes intricate warm-up routines with his fitness coach, Juanjo Moreno. Part of the routine includes juggling three balls with a member of his team. He has become used to the routine and has helped shape him into the player he is today.
He has won a total of four Grand Slams in his career and has been impressive this season on clay. In fact, he has only lost one match on the surface this season. After the drills, he went on to beat Laslo Djere in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the Italian Open. It was his second match at the tournament, and he’s yet to drop a set.
After Andreeva defeated Linda Noskova on Sunday (May 11), as she was going to the locker room, she watched Alcaraz warming up for his match. She revealed during his press conference that she and her coach, Conchita Martinez, copied some of the routines.
I love his reflex exercises, and we have copied some of them with Conchita. Thanks to her, I can say a few words in Spanish, so I wished Carlos good luck after he congratulated me. For now, we have only reached that point; maybe we’ll improve in the future.
Mirra Andreeva said via Rome Press
Alcaraz is into his first Rome Masters round of 16 and wil now face Karen Khachanov next. He will hope to be at the Russian and continue with his clay form ahead of the French Open, which begins on May 25.
Mirra Andreeva battles hard to beat Linda Noskova in the third round of the Italian Open
Mirra Andreeva had to fight hard to get past Linda Noskova in their third-round tie on Sunday (May 11). The Russian claimed the first set easily with a 6-1 win but was down 2-4 early in the second set. At one point, she was 3-5 down but had to win five of her last six games to claim a 6-1, 7-5 victory against the No. 30 seed.
I felt like in the first set, I was playing well but she also missed a lot of points. My goal was just to put as many balls in the court as possible. In the second set, she started to really play aggressive and her shots started to go in. It was much, much harder to play against her. I tried to focus on trying to run for every ball that she sends, just playing as deep as possible to kind of build the point and create opportunities to attack.
Mirra Andreeva said via Tennis.com
While the match was 3-5 in favor of Noskova the match was set to go into the third set. However, Andreeva had to talk to herself into finding her way back into the match and then snatching the winner after an hour and twenty-three minutes.
I was like, ‘Please, Mirra. Do everything you can. Just don’t go into a third set.
Mirra Andreeva said
Andreeva will now look forward to continuing with her run at the Italian Open. She’s yet to reach a clay-court tournament semi-final this season. She will take on Clara Tauson in the round of 16 of the Italian Open, a rematch of the Dubai Tennis Championships final in February. It was in Dubai that Andreeva won her first WTA 1000 title, before going on to win Indian Wells a month later.
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