The growth from when competing in Madrid at 15
Three years on, a lot has changed. “I think the way I approach matches has changed a lot,” she explained. “Even when I was playing against Aryna in my first tournament here in Madrid, I was just trying to enjoy the atmosphere. I wasn’t expecting anything from myself, so I was playing like every match was my last and just trying to give it all.
“I knew I couldn’t tell myself anything bad if I lost, because no one expected me to win so many matches that year.
But now, of course, I know how well I can play and everyone knows it as well. So now it’s about how to keep that level every time you play and how to maintain that consistency.”
Her team have also proved to be a crucial part of her rise in the sport. Now having been with Conchita Martinez for over a year, the pair have grown into a formidable partnership along with the whole of her team
She was tasked to use one word to describe them all. “One word? All of them? I would say ‘important,’ because every one of them is doing something that helps me perform at my best level,” she said. “Obviously sometimes things are not going well, but I know that they always give 200% every day for me. It also gives me a lot of motivation to try and give that back. I would say that every single one of them is very, very important for me.”
The debrief has not yet begun, with Andreeva too emotional to speak to Martinez. “We didn’t talk yet. She just gave me a hug. Every time she starts talking to me, I would start crying, so we didn’t talk yet.”
Mirra Andreeva was not able to get the better of Marta Kostyuk in the final of the Madrid Open 2026
Fatigue not the reason for defeat
The Russian had played a lot of tennis coming up to this point on clay. She won the title in Linz before falling short against world number two Elena Rybakina in Stuttgart. She traversed to Madrid full of confidence with it having been a favourable event in the past. Her fine form at Caja Magica continued and then some with this final run in both the singles and doubles.
Despite the amount of tennis she has played, Andreeva still feels relatively fine. “My physical condition hasn’t changed. Of course now I feel more tired mentally and physically, but it’s not like I’m fully drained and can’t do anything anymore.
About those chances—I mean, it happens. It’s tennis and it’s OK.”
The mistakes she made in the match were not down to fatigue. “In the first set, when I had those break points, I made three mistakes after, so it’s kind of my fault,” she reminisced. “But it’s not like I missed on purpose—I was trying to play aggressively.
For the set points, one was an ace—nothing I could do. On the second, I missed the return on a second serve. Maybe I could have just put it in, but I wanted to go for it and be brave. It didn’t work, so it’s OK. Bad luck.”
Andreeva does not take losing well. She was in utter despair after her defeat to Kostyuk, bursting out into tears as she said her speech. ” Honestly, I don’t even know what’s better. Every time I lose, it feels like the end of the world to me,” she admitted. “Sometimes I see other players smiling right after defeats, and I don’t understand how they do it. I wish I could do it.
For me, every loss is very disappointing and painful. I hope maybe in the future this can improve and I can talk about it right away, instead of needing time before I can.”
Was she content with her performance?
Andreeva had a decent path to the final. A trio of Hungarians were followed by former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals. Hailey Baptiste was then defeated, all while dropping just one set. It was slightly trickier for Kostyuk, getting the better of the likes of Jessica and Linda Noskova enroute to a maiden WTA 1000 final. She was playing the better tennis in the tournament, but there was the feeling that Andreeva still had some gears to rise with a tougher opponent.
While today was not her day, it was not a bad performance by any means. Just certain moments that cost her lifting the trophy at the end of the day. “I was happy with how I played at certain moments. But when you lose, for me personally, I cannot be happy,” she adamantly stated.
“I can think of some parts where I played well, but to win you have to play like that the whole match and be consistent. So I cannot say I’m happy right now.
She played well—she hit a lot of winners and was very aggressive. At times I tried to pressure her and be aggressive too. Sometimes I felt I was winning more points when I just put the ball back in play and built the point slowly, trying to get her tired.
But none of that worked well enough, because I didn’t win in the end. So I think it was a combination of all those things.”
She came into the final the higher ranked and an experienced winner at this level, compared to her opponent who was new to all of this. The favourite tag was something that she did not dwell on for too long.
“I would say that didn’t really bother me that much,” she said. “When people mentioned it in my last press conference, I thought about it briefly, but after that not even once.
Of course, it can be easier to play when you’re not the favourite, but it’s not easy either way—I’ve been in both positions. I can say I didn’t think about those things and just tried to focus on my plan and what I had to do to try to win the match.”
As forementioned, Andreeva will turn her sights to the doubles final alongside Shnaider. The pair won the Miami Open title together in 2025 and will look to repeat the success against tricky opposition. The number two seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend are coming off the back of completing the Sunshine double and are eyeing up more success at WTA 1000 level.