Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs says Mirra Andreeva reminds her of "psycho" Roger Federer

Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs recently recalled how Roger Federer had a volatile temperament when he was a junior tennis player. Stubbs' recollection came about while assessing 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva's mercurial rise. Andreeva recently broke into the WTA top 10 after winning her maiden WTA 1000 event at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships.

Speaking on a recent episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Serena Williams' former coach revisited how Andreeva didn't have a firm hold on her emotions on the tennis court when she was younger. According to Stubbs, seeing the Russian being who she was made her wonder if she could ever mature.

"Mirra Andreeva to me is similar (to Madison Keys) in a lot of ways. She was such a mental case on the court at times and I was like, 'Is this kid ever going to reel this in?' And now she looks like a completely different player," Stubbs said [24:32 onwards].

Next, she drew parallels to Roger Federer, who matured into a calm and composed player but wasn't always able to keep his emotions in check when he was in juniors.

"Same as Roger Federer when he was in juniors. He was a psycho and then he gets to play pro and he realized really quickly, 'Oh.. that doesn't work. This works,'" Stubbs added.

The former ATP World No. 1 had once opened up about how he used to very quickly get angry while playing tennis as a junior.

"I was just horrible" - When Roger Federer talked about his initial temperament issues

Roger Federer ahead of the 2024 Laver Cup (Source: Getty)

Roger Federer established himself as a dominant force on the ATP Tour in 2003. He won his maiden Grand Slam title that year at the Wimbledon Championships and also finished the season by clinching the year-end finals after overcoming Andre Agassi at the last hurdle.

In an interview with The Telegraph the same year, the Swiss candidly recalled his temperamental nature on the court when he was 12.

"I just couldn't control myself. It was really difficult for me to accept misses. I'm a perfectionist. If I lost one point, I was fine. Two, I'm not happy any more. Three, now I'm angry. That's how it went," Federer said.

"When I was 12 years old, I was just horrible. My parents were ashamed to watch my matches. I would play on a court at the local club and they would watch from the balcony. They would scream, 'Be quiet' to me and I would scream back, 'Go and have a drink. Leave me alone.' Then we would drive home in a very quiet car. No one speaking to each other," he added.

The Swiss bid an emotional farewell to tennis at the 2024 Laver Cup after a stellar career that saw him win 20 Major titles and 83 other titles on the ATP Tour.