Why 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva should be celebrated as much as Serena Williams & Maria Sharapova

Mirra Andreeva has recently won the biggest trophy of her career at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. In light of that, it's time to recognize the teenager as one of the biggest talents we've seen in recent years, possibly even more. It doesn't particularly take a genius to understand how good of a tennis player Andreeva is.

Her list of achievements at her age is rather impressive, but some things need to be put in context. Her age is front and center of that because she is, after all, still 17 years old. Players doing well at that age isn't unheard of. There have been teenagers who have done well in the past, more so on the women's side of the sport than on the men's side.

Both Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were fantastic teenagers who broke into the sport quite early in their careers. Sharapova famously won the Wimbledon Championships in 2004 when she was only 17 years old. Williams went on to do amazing things after her fast start, pulling up so many trophies that not even the biggest critics of her dare to question her status as the greatest tennis player of all time.

For Andreeva, however, there are some things she's yet to do. She's yet to win a Grand Slam, though last year she made it to the Roland-Garros semifinal. She's yet to really see out her full career, so we don't know what she might do, but what is certain is that she's tremendously great and deserves to be celebrated as much as some other legendary players have been.

What she's been able to do is not the norm by any standard. She basically broke out as a 15-year-old playing at the Madrid Open and beating some good players in that run. Her ascent hasn't stopped since then as she's looked better and more impressive every year.

Her maiden trophy came in Iasi last year, and this year has been even more impressive. She just won her biggest trophy of her career, which kind of solidified her as this tremendously great player who has been on a historic arc so far in her career. So how great is Mirra Andreeva truly?

How great is Mirra Andreeva truly?

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - Day Five - Source: Getty

This question matters a lot because it is the pinnacle question that you can ask about her career right now. Everybody knows that she's a great player and that she has a bright future, but how great is she truly? Well, she just did something that essentially nobody ever did before.

By winning the WTA 1000 trophy, she became the youngest player ever to have won this trophy since the format was introduced back in 2009. It's not a long history, but it still has to be noted as she's only 17 years and 299 days old. That's very young in tennis years, and even better things await her.

Another thing that this victory will do for her is catapult her into the Top 10 of the WTA Rankings. That means that she'll become the youngest Top 10 ranked player since 2006, which again is incredibly impressive considering that women's tennis has had some crazily talented teenagers who did some amazing things.

Another thing that she did at this year's Dubai Championship is win a major trophy in the 2nd fewest appearances at big events. The only player who managed to do that in fewer events in recent times is Paula Badosa, who needed only 10 by the time she won the 2021 Indian Wells Masters.

Andreeva did it in 11, and she's far younger than Badosa, so in a sense, it's even more impressive as she was able to rack up so many appearances at these events despite her young age. So to circle back to the question. Mirra Andreeva is ridiculously good for her age, and these are only some of the stats that back that up.

We could list out far more stats to really hammer down the point, but this isn't about stats. It's about a super talented player whose trajectory so far has proven that she's the real deal. She hasn't made a step back since breaking out three years ago and looks to be the more complete player with every year. That's a super positive sign for her future because expect her to become an even better player as time comes, and who knows where the future will take her.

She's certainly a Grand Slam champion in waiting, quite possibly even more, and teenagers or even players like that don't show up every day, so that needs to be recognized and celebrated. Enjoy the rise of a new tennis superstar because it's been a while since we had a talent of this caliber in women's tennis.