BERLIN. April 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Mirra Andreeva had mixed emotions after earning an opening round win at the 2025 WTA Tennis Tournament in Stuttgart on Thursday, as she saw her older sister Erika Andreeva on the opposite court succumb to injury and retire.
Mirra and Erika squared off in a battle of sisters in the opening round of the 2025 WTA Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, with Mirra advancing to the next round of the tournament after her older sister had to withdraw in the second set due to medical reasons (2-6; 1-0).
Erica complained of knee pain throughout the opening set and even asked for a medical break so that doctors could assess her injury. In the match’s second set, she finally decided that enough was enough and retired.
"She started playing some tournaments when I didn't have to, and she showed me the way," the official WTA website quoted Mirra Andreeva as saying about her sister after the match. "Because of her, it was easier for me to start playing bigger tournaments right away. "If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would be playing this tournament this year."
Mirra said she and her sister are staying in the same room during the tournament: "We share the same room, so of course I knew what she's been going through."
"Honestly, [I] have weird emotions," Mirra Andreeva said. "I should be a little bit happy that I won the match, but still I'm super sad it ended like that. I'm sure she's gonna take her time and recover, and she's gonna come back as strong as she can."
Andreeva, 17, has two WTA titles under her belt. Her best finish at Grand Slams was at the 2024 French Open when she reached the semifinals. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year. Playing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, she won a silver medal in women’s doubles with partner Diana Shnaider.
The 2025 WTA Tennis Grand Prix tournament is played on indoor clay courts located at the up to 8,000-seat capacity Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Germany, between April 14 and 21, 2024, and offers over $1 million in prize money. Kazakhstan’s Yelena Rybakina is the tournament’s reigning champion.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.