It’s very simple. Mirra Andreeva, the 3rd seed, beat Elina Svitolina, the 6th seed, 6-4, 6-0 in 70 minutes on Monday at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells. Seven games in a row to finish. And then there’s something she told Tennis Majors.
“I think it’s the very first time that I asked Conchita to go to the practice courts. I just wanted to clean my shots. I wanted to serve a little. I just wanted to feel a bit more free on the court, and that was the purpose behind it.”
Cleaning her shots. That’s exactly what I’ve been saying for years, nobody listens to me. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, before my match against the future top 10 player, I went and hit for twenty minutes on the outside court. Or thirty. There were cows, I remember, or that was another tournament. The result, I know it: I felt free on the court. The score is a detail.
Mind you, in January I said Svitolina. She had beaten Andreeva at the Australian Open, right. Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said. I’m clarifying: I said Svitolina in January, Andreeva in November. Andreeva now leads their head-to-head 2-1, which proves I was right two times out of three, so sixty-six per cent, and I’m being generous.
She saved all six break points, four of them in the last game, and she won on her first match point. Seventh time this season she hasn’t dropped her serve all match. Now that’s a clean serve. Well cleaned.
Jean-Pol, in Kitzbühel, did you book the court or did you just wait until it was free? Because at our club, court 4 has to be requested three weeks ahead.
My forecast for what comes next, I’m giving it now so nobody says I changed it afterwards. Andreeva plays Sabalenka, then Muchova. The top two in the group go through to the semi-finals on Saturday. Sabalenka beat Muchova 7-6, 7-5 on Monday and keeps a 179-point lead over Andreeva for the year-end No. 2 spot. So Andreeva goes through. Or Sabalenka. I said it back in January, all right?
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Majors.
