Coach Lindstedt jokes that Mirra Andreeva’s success will only 'get worse' from here

Mirra Andreeva jokes with coach Robert Lindstedt after her victory at World Tennis League against Elena Rybakina. The final day of competition at the World Tennis League saw a fun moment between Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka, as both burst out laughing during a doubles match, in a situation that was never fully explained.

The Russian teenager later refused to provide details about the situation during an interview with her coach from the Team. However, Lindstedt praised Andreeva's potential to become a Grand Slam contender in 2025, following a notable rise in the rankings over the last two seasons.

“Having fun is my main goal”

The 17-year-old joined Aryna Sabalenka, Sumit Nagal, and Jordan Thompson for the WTL this week. While they made it to the final, with Andreeva and Sabalenka winning all their matches in the tournament, they couldn’t secure the title for their team after Nagal and Thompson lost their final encounters.

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Nevertheless, the Sabalenka-Andreeva doubles pairing proved highly effective. Today, they were 0-5 down against Elena Rybakina and Caroline Garcia but managed to stage a comeback, saving three match points and winning the tie-break. Later, Andreeva won her singles match against Rybakina, putting her team in a strong position heading into the men's matches.

“Honestly, I play my best tennis when I’m having fun, that’s my main goal, and that was my plan for today, and we definitely had fun playing doubles, so I just tried to keep the same mindset for singles, but I try to keep it inside sometimes,” Andreeva said.

The Russian player then briefly spoke about the peculiar moment with Sabalenka when they both burst into laughter during their doubles match and even briefly halted play. "I don’t know if you noticed, but there was one point during our doubles match when I was close to starting to laugh,” Andreeva said, sitting alongside her coach Lindstedt.

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At that moment, the coach was asked how he felt about the praise from the Russian player. "I didn’t hear any credits, I just hear that she’s having fun,” he responded, while Andreeva laughed. “I mean, it’s a joy to sit here, you’re talking about, that she belongs, she’s 17 years old and ranked 16th in the world, so she’s already a contender for the Grand Slams, right? So it’s really fun to sit here and watch.”

“I think she’s peaking now, and this is only going to get worse from this point,” Robert Lindstedt joked again, as Andreeva made 'threatening' gestures toward the coach. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how far she can go… because she is just a baby,” he added with laughter.