“I’ve been listening to a lot of LeBron James interviews”: Mirra Andreeva channels inspiration during Dubai title defense

Mirra Andreeva arrived in Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this week carrying the weight of a title defense and 1,000 ranking points. The Russian teenager referred to her inspiration from interviews with the legendary LeBron James and the growing rivalry with Victoria Mboko

The 18-year-old Russian won the Dubai title in 2025, her first WTA 1000 title, which would begin a run of 13 consecutive victories in which she claimed back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells.

Now seeded No. 5, she begins her 2026 campaign at the event in unusual fashion, advancing to the last 16 without striking a ball. A first-round bye was followed by Daria Kasatkina’s withdrawal due to a right hip injury, sending Andreeva directly into the third round. She is scheduled to face Jaqueline Cristian, who progressed after Ella Seidel retired mid-match.

The teenager already sits inside the world’s top 10, leading a new wave that includes Victoria Mboko. Their recent meetings in Brisbane and Doha underlined the volatility of early-season form. With significant points to defend, any early exit in Dubai would have immediate ranking consequences.

Ahead of her first match, Andreeva spoke candidly about the mental demands of sustaining success. Her focus was not on tactics or opponents, but on what she called the “hardest part” of elite competition: maintaining belief when performances fall short of personal standards.

Andreeva acknowledged that confidence can be deceptive in professional tennis. When timing is clean and winners flow, matches can appear straightforward. The greater challenge, she suggested, comes when execution falters and self-doubt threatens to take over.

“It’s easy to be confident and it’s easy to play well when everything goes your way, when you feel like the ball is flying, when you feel like you hit a lot of winners and everything is just going your way. But I would say for me the hardest part is to still be positive and to force yourself to be 100% mentally focused when something doesn’t go your way. For me today, that was exactly what happened because I didn’t feel great on court.”

As a Grand Slam semifinalist in previous seasons and now a WTA 1000 champion, Andreeva no longer competes as an outsider. Opponents approach her differently, and matches often hinge on narrow margins rather than clear momentum swings.

She described missing “shots that I usually don’t miss,” a standard that underlines how fine those margins have become. In a tour defined by depth and power, minor dips in precision can quickly shift control of a match.

Rather than dwell on technical adjustments, Andreeva emphasized mindset. Her response to inconsistency was framed as a choice between surrendering to frustration or committing fully to the next point.

“I missed some shots that I usually don’t miss, and I just told myself: you can either let that negativity come into your head and kill you, or you can choose to be 100% mentally strong and fight for every point. If something doesn’t go your way, fine—you forget about it and you play one point at a time.”

She revealed that listening to interviews given by LeBron James had reinforced that perspective. “I’ve been listening to a lot of LeBron James interviews, and he said that it’s easy to be confident and to play well when everything goes your way, but what makes you a champion is giving your best when you don’t feel great. So that’s what I tried to do today.”

Andreeva also addressed her emerging rivalry with Victoria Mboko, a matchup that has already produced two high-level encounters this season. The Russian defeated the Canadian 6-3, 6-1 in the Adelaide International final before Mboko responded with a win in Doha.

With both teenagers now inside the top 10, their meetings have drawn increased attention across the tour. “I do think that we might have something going on in the future like this,” Andreeva said. “Because obviously this year we played against each other twice already,” commented the 18-year-old player. “And I think that there are going to be so many tournaments in the future that we’re going to play against each other.”

At the same time, Andreeva underlined the mutual respect between them. “If I were to choose one player, it’s just nice to share those moments with her because I’ve known her for a long time,” she said, calling Mboko “a great player” and adding that she “doesn’t mind to have something like this going on in the future.”