Andy Murray Heaps Praise on 16-Year-Old 'Winner' Mirra Andreeva After Comeback Victory in Australian Open

Andy Murray hailed 16-year-old teenager Mirra Andreeva’s mental strength after she kept her Australian Open dream alive by mustering a sensational comeback win for the ages in her bout against Diane Parry on Friday.

The Russian caught eyes when she thumped sixth seed Ons Jabeur in under an hour in round two and followed up with yet another slogfest today to overcome France’s Diane Parry 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/5).

Facing elimination down 5-1 in the deciding set, Andreeva went on a rampage, clinching the five games in a row to leave her in a position to serve for the match at 6-5.

Parry fought back to set yet another tie-breaker. But, there was no stopping the relentless Russian, who steamrolled over the 21-year-old Parry to advance to the next stage of the tournament.

She will next meet Czech ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova or Australian qualifier Storm Hunter.

Yet another astonished spectator who was witnessing the rise of the Russian was none other than five-time Australian Open finalist Murray, who took to social media to share his thoughts on the resilient youngster.

“Andreeva down 5-1 in third. Commentator: ‘she really needs to work on mental side of her game. She’s too hard on herself when she’s losing’. 30 minutes later 7-6 Andreeva wins,” Murray wrote on a post in X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Maybe the reason she turned the match around is because of her mental strength,” he said.

“Maybe she turned the match around because she is hard on herself and demands more of herself when she’s losing/playing badly? Winner.”

Andreeva, a follower and fan of Murray herself, said she was honoured that was he taking notice.

“Honestly, I didn’t really think that he would watch a match, then after he would tweet, he would comment something,” she said.

“Honestly, I will try to print it out somehow. I don’t know, I will put it in a frame. I will bring it everywhere with me. I will maybe put it on the wall so I can see it every day.”

When asked about what kept her going to stage the epic come-from-behind victory she executed, Mirra kept it simple.

“I don’t know, just the adrenaline, the desire, the feeling that I want to win,” she said.

“It was a tough match. She played really well in the first set. It was really tough for me to do something. Then I just found my way. Honestly, overall it was a crazy match for me.”