Though Andreeva is yet to add Martinez’s upset of Martina Navratilova to her YouTube queue, she does feel the former No. 2 helped her celebrate her 17th birthday feeling more mature—a line that got laughs on court at this year’s Australian Open when she thrashed her idol Jabeur in under an hour back in January.
“Maturity, for me, is when I find a way to get out difficult situations faster,” she muses. “If I’m struggling with something, or if, for example, there were a couple of matches in Madrid where I struggled in the beginning, and before, I would get upset and not really focus on the game. I would spend all the energy on bringing myself back to the game.
“And now, all this energy that I have, I’m not spending it trying to calm myself down or say some things to myself to calm myself down. I’m using the energy to find solutions, to overcome some difficult moments, like if you’re losing with two breaks down. Before, I wouldn’t be able to do that. This may be maturity for me.”
