"Before respect, now fear": Mirra Andreeva goes from hunter to hunted as Rick Macci issues warning to rising star

While Mirra Andreeva has ascended to new heights in the game, it is very much going to go from being the hunter to the hunted and former coach of Serena Williams, Rick Macci said it works both ways.

Macci was one of the coaches responsible for the rise of Serena and Venus Williams so he knows what it takes to mould the mind of a young star. 17-year-old Andreeva was a superb junior but it was in the pros that she has made her mark.

She emerged two years ago at the Madrid Open as a shy teenager who hilariously liked Andy Murray's face. But nowadays she has become a top tennis phenom winning the Dubai title a few weeks ago.

Just a year after reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros and emulating Coco Gauff in reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon in the same year. She beat Clara Tauson in Dubai in straight sets but it was her wins along the way seeing off Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova as well as Iga Swiatek that struck fear into her opponents.

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But now Macci says it works both ways as she goes from holding the cards as the hunter to being hunted and that players will both fear her and see her as a scalp. A fear that Andreeva has to get used to in the coming months. She has a good team around her including Conchita Martinez but will certainly encounter new found territory that she will have to be ready for.

"When players play Andreeva now it is a very different feeling. Before respect. Now fear. But it cuts both ways as she is done hunting and now will feel hunted. But nothing has changed! Things around everybody has changed. Still a court net lines and a street fight," said Macci on X.

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