The ‘new Coco Gauff’ is a Russian 16-year-old aiming to take Wimbledon by storm

Wimbledon: Clare Balding looks forward to seeing new stars of tennis

A tennis prodigy will make her full Wimbledon debut at the age of 16 next week after flying through the qualifying rounds despite having never played on grass before in her life.

Mirra Andreeva was not given a wildcard place and had to navigate her way through three rounds of qualifying this week, but after winning her first two matches in straight sets, the Russian saw off Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 to reach the first round proper on Monday.

Ranked 102 in the world, Andreeva has made a name for herself on clay courts but is a complete rookie on grass. However, she demonstrated no problems whatsoever adapting to a new surface and as a result has become the youngest player to make it through the qualifying rounds at Wimbledon since Coco Gauff in 2019.

Andreeva can now expect plenty of media focus over the coming days as tennis fans will be intrigued to see if she can take a big scalp just like Gauff did on her debut four years ago.

The American was just 15 when she stunned tennis by defeating five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in straight sets before going on to make it as far as the third round. The 19-year-old is now ranked number 4 in the world.

With 22 wins and just three defeats to her name so far this season and an overall record that reads 61/12, Andreeva has already amassed just shy of £225,000 in prize money since joining the WTA less than a year ago.

She has already appeared in the main draw of a Grand Slam, after making it through qualifying at the French Open. At Roland-Garros she defeated Alison Riske in the first round before seeing off wildcard Diane Parry to reach the third round of a major at the first attempt.

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It was here that she met fellow teenager Gauff and despite taking the first set, the sixth seed fought back to win the match. That run moved her 40 places up the world rankings, now sitting just outside the top 100.

Andreeva’s 19-year-old sister Erika is also a tennis player on the WTA. The siblings are originally from Krasnoyarsk but moved to Moscow for training and now have a training base in Cannes, France, with their coaches Jean-René Lisnard and Jean-Christophe Faurel.

Andreeva will kick off her Wimbledon adventure on Monday when she faces Spaniard Rosa Vicens Mas in the first round.

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