The young Russian sensation of women's tennis had an uncharacteristic day, to say the least, on Sunday during an exhibition tournament in France. Mirra Andreeva, 57e World, won the title for the first time in Bourg-de-Péage by loss because her opponent, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, refused to compete in the final for geopolitical reasons.
But the 16-year-old Russian went onto the field anyway. Because the organizers of the French event had found someone else to face and give his spectators something to chew on.
· Also read: Who is Mirra Andreeva, the teenager who conquered Wimbledon?
And that someone was a man: a local player who holds an ATP ranking (#1146 in singles), Yanis Ghazouani Durand, who was cooking pancakes when the tournament director informed him of the program change He told the website tennisactu.net.
“I 100% believed it was a joke!” added the 23-year-old, who also volunteered at the event and was initially expected to act as Andreeva's hitting partner before her final, in an interview.
Complete the first round
But it was no joke (you can watch the game below). The organizers said on their Facebook page on Sunday: “We have done everything we can to activate our network of professional players, but unfortunately the deadline is too short to find a replacement.” [à Kostyuk]”, They write.
And in this spontaneous remake of the battle of the sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs (which the legendary King had won), this time it was the young man who had the upper hand over the teenager.
The score was still close, especially in the first round: 7-5 and 6-2.
“Something crazy”
Because despite their large gap in their respective rankings, which works in Andreeva's favor, you should know that the difference between men's and women's hitting power in tennis is significant.
Yanis Ghazouani Durand, who himself took part in the men's draw where he lost in the first round to Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (96th in the world), also highlighted the biggest differences between a man ranked among the 100 best in the world , and a solid woman who is in the WTA top 100.
“The strength and physical qualities differ the most,” he analyzed to tennisactu.net. Arthur is already taller, his serve is much faster, everything in the top 100 men is faster. Everything is more complete, there is a big difference, but it was still difficult to win against Andreeva, who played very well.”
“It didn't go well at the beginning, but I was able to improve my level of play and win in the end. It was crazy!” added the Frenchman.