Teenage wildcard says players “don’t want to train with me” ahead of Roland Garros debut

Teenage wildcard Ksenia Efremova has said she has experienced difficulties finding practice partners in the build-up to her Roland Garros debut, claiming that “sometimes it’s difficult to train with the girls because they don’t want to play points”. The 17-year-old, one of the youngest players in the women’s main draw, made the comments during her first press conference in Paris ahead of her Grand Slam debut.

Efremova is currently ranked world No. 623 and is still at the early stages of her professional career. Despite her ranking, she arrives at Roland Garros with junior pedigree, having won the Australian Open girls’ singles title earlier in 2026, alongside a series of ITF-level results during her transition into professional tennis.

She has yet to play a WTA main draw match at Tour level (WTA 250 or above) and has not competed in a senior Grand Slam main draw before. Her only previous appearance at Roland Garros came in qualifying last year, where she exited in the opening round. In recent weeks, she has also competed in qualifying draws in Madrid and Strasbourg, recording a notable win in Madrid over world No. 106 Lulu Sun.

However, her preparations in Paris have been complicated by what she described as reluctance from some players to engage in full practice sets.

Efremova said she had repeatedly encountered situations where potential practice partners were unwilling to play structured points or full sets, particularly when she was involved as a wildcard entrant.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to train with the girls because they don’t want to play points, they don’t want to play sets, because I am a wildcard,” she said in a press conference. “That has already happened to me. I don’t want to say no, but it has already happened that some girls didn’t want to because I was a wildcard.”

She also referenced an instance in which a practice session eventually took place after initial hesitation, describing the competitive nature of the exchange that followed. “Afterwards there was even a situation where a girl came and said, ‘okay, it’s fine.’ And after that I beat her 6-2. It was good.”

Efremova earned her Roland Garros wildcard following her Australian Open junior title in January, joining a list of past junior champions in Melbourne that includes Marta Kostyuk, Clara Tauson, Karolína Plíšková and Victoria Azarenka.

Despite that success, she insisted that junior achievements do not necessarily translate into recognition on the professional circuit or with practice partners. “It’s good to win a junior Grand Slam, but I’m aiming a bit higher than that. Winning a junior Grand Slam doesn’t make you a ‘wow’ player to your practice partners,” she said.

Her Roland Garros debut will come against 18th seed Sorana Cîrstea, a significantly more experienced opponent. Efremova has cited inspiration from compatriot Loïs Boisson, who reached the semi-finals in 2025 as a surprise entrant ranked No. 361. Efremova enters this year’s event as world No. 625, the youngest and lowest-ranked player in the main draw.

“Honestly, I really want to go far, show everyone I’m really capable of it, and tell myself I’m sure of myself. I’m full of confidence, I can do it. Plus, playing Roland-Garros, it’s home, it’s France,” she said in press conference. “I’m going to try to do what Loïs Boisson did last year – it wasn’t bad, honestly. But my aim is to play good matches, just play well.”

Her opponent, Cîrstea, is almost 20 years older. When Efremova was born in 2009, Cîrstea was already making her breakthrough, reaching the Roland Garros quarter-finals that same year in her first appearance at that stage, aged 19.

Now 36, Cîrstea arrives at Roland Garros ranked world No. 18, the highest position of her career. The contrast in experience frames an opening-round match scheduled for Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Sunday afternoon, in one of the early standout fixtures of the French Open first round.