Andreeva’s winning streak keeps growing, but where’s the puppy?

Mirra Andreeva has claimed more than a few prizes in her young career as a professional tennis player. She was the WTA Newcomer of the Year Award in 2023, an Olympic silver medal in doubles last year and a first WTA 1000 trophy in recent weeks.

But despite now being the owner of the longest Hologic WTA Tour winning streak for a player under the age of 18 in 20 years, there’s one reward that’s not yet hers — and it comes on four legs.

In October, Andreeva beat Magda Linette in Round of 16 at the China Open, assuring herself of a Top 20 debut in the rankings. A puppy was supposed to come with that milestoneAndreeva said after a begrudging promise by her mother, Raisa. But nearly six months later — and now a newly minted member of the Top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings — Andreeva is still waiting to meet her furry friend.

“No dog yet, because we’re still kind of thinking what’s gonna be better,” Andreeva told reporters after defeating Elina Svitolina in Thursday’s BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals, extending her winning streak to 10.

“I’m thinking to get an ultra-mini labradoodle. It’s going to be a Labrador mixed with poodle, and it’s ultra mini, so going to be even smaller than a mini version. It’s going to take time until the dog that I want will be born. We wait for now.”

Andreeva’s swift rise on the Hologic WTA Tour has required little patience — and that momentum has carried into the early days of 2025. But with a steadying coaching relationship with International Tennis Hall of Famer Conchita Martinez and occasional consults with a sports psychologist, Andreeva is now less driven by external pressures to win.

Speaking with Tennis Channel after beating Svitolina, the affable 17-year-old didn’t even realize she’s projected to reach a new career-high ranking and return to the Top 10 next week, moves she once would have tracked closely.

“I was always checking live rankings, because before, I was playing for a dog. So after every match I play, I would check the live rankings to see if I did it,” she said.

“But now it’s not that I don’t care, but I try to not focus on that, and I try to focus on the match that I have to play. I like this. I would say it’s pretty easy, because I don’t think about the rankings or the points I have to defend if I have to, so I just don’t really follow the rankings or anything, like this is a bit easier for me.”

While Andreeva credits Martinez with plenty, astutely balancing work and play, the work with a psychologist, she says, has also sharpened her focus.

“It helped me a lot to realize a lot of things and to change something in the way I think during the match or before the match,” Andreeva said. “Also, it helps me to go in the match with the right mindset, and I think that that was kind of the key for me. I can say that it’s working. It’s not bad. So I’m just super happy that I can see the result.

“I will do everything I can not to stop here.”

Certainly not until she gets that puppy, anyway.