In spite of her passport, Russia’s Andreeva wins over fans as she exits Wimbledon

Open this photo in gallery: Russia's Mirra Andreeva lost her quarter-final match to Switzerland's Belinda Bencic.Toby Melville/Reuters

With her flowing blonde ponytail, bright smile and powerful backhand, teenage tennis sensation Mirra Andreeva has become a fan favourite at Wimbledon. She’s also a big propaganda boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Andreeva, who hails from Siberia, is only 18 years old, but she’s already climbed into the world’s top 10 and reached the semi-finals of the French Open. She got to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon but fell on Wednesday 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.

Despite the loss this was Andreeva’s best showing at Wimbledon and she hadn’t lost a set until Wednesday. She showed flashes of brilliance and maturity all week, and drew plenty of shouts of “Come on, Mirra.”

Her talent is wide ranging for someone so young. She has the power to smash serves at 193 kilometres an hour and the finesse to land drop shots with the softness of a rain drop.

At one point in the second set on Wednesday she was down 5-4 with Bencic serving for the match. Andreeva jumped up from her chair after the changeover and calmly won the game. She lost the subsequent tie breaker 7-2 but left the court to loud applause.

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Her nationality has been a bone of contention for many in London and a couple of newspaper columnists have suggested that she would be easier to support if she had been born somewhere else.

Others have noted that Wimbledon banned players from Russia and Belarus in 2022, but relented the following year. Interest in the war in Ukraine has faded since then and before this year’s tournament organizers were more concerned about pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Outside Centre Court on Wednesday, views on Andreeva’s heritage were mixed.

“Her nationality doesn’t matter. She’s an 18-year-old,” said Jason Danks, who became a new Andreeva fan after watching the match. “The players shouldn’t be penalized for stuff that’s going on in their country that they don’t have any control over. They just want to play sport at the highest level.”

Vicky Sawyer was also mesmerized by the Russian’s play, but she still felt pleased that Wimbledon doesn’t display the nationality of players from Russia or Belarus; a gesture many sports organizations use to show some opposition to Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Open this photo in gallery: Andreeva won fans over through her run to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and will likely emerge from the tournament in the top five of the world rankings.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

“When they don’t have a country next to their name, you know that, oh, they’re Russian,” Sawyer said. “I’m happy that the players are allowed to play so long as they don’t carry the Russian flag behind them.”

Jane Bradford took one look at Andreeva’s nationality and immediately rooted for Bencic. But as the match wore on “everybody seemed very behind her,” she said, adding that she also couldn’t help but cheer for the teenager. “I feel bad that her country is wiped off, as in, like, she’s tarred with that brush.”

Andreeva has never shied away from her Russian roots. She comes from the city of Krasnoyarsk in the far east of the country and got into tennis as a child along with her sister at the behest of their mother. She honed her tennis skills in Sochi and then headed to Cannes, France, where she’s coached by former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez.

She competed at the Paris Olympics last year along with 14 other Russian athletes as a neutral. She won a silver medal in doubles and received an award from Putin along with a $24,000 bonus.

Some Russian players have come out against the war in Ukraine; notably Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Daria Kasatkina, who faced so much opposition in her homeland to her sexual orientation and her opposition to the war that she now competes for Australia.

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Andreeva has been more careful with her comments. She prefers to talk about focusing on tennis and not politics, and mentions her hometown only to say that she gets support from family and friends.

When asked directly on Wednesday to clarify her position on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, she replied, “I can say that I’m for peace, and I just hope that whatever’s going on will resolve soon.”

She’s more comfortable discussing her admiration for Roger Federer, her love of strawberries and her interest in science fiction. Earlier this week she mentioned a book about a world of creatures at war that she couldn’t put down. The title didn’t translate well into English, she said. “How would you call it? Maybe the ‘Weapon of Death,’ I would say probably.”

She leaves Wimbledon a better player and likely to move into the top five when the next world rankings come out. After the match she spoke about her fondness for London and how British fans took to her during the tournament – so much so that her matches were moved to Wimbledon’s prime locations: Centre Court and Court No. 1.

“There are a lot of, yeah, great things to remember from this tournament,” she said, smiling broadly.

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