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ROLAND GARROS – Coco Gauff has beaten Mirra Andreeva in their first career clash, which happened to come in the third round of Roland Garros.

But first, could we just appreciate for a moment what fine manners 19-year-old Gauff has?

She was the first to arrive on the practice court just a week ago. And when young Andreeva arrived to join her for what appeared to be their first practice session, she immediately headed over.

She introduced herself, shook the hand of a clearly thrilled (and somewhat abashed) Andreeva, three years her junior but much further down the tennis food chain despite having just easily qualified for the Roland Garros main draw.

Here’s what it looked like.

It was absolutely lovely; current Gauff advisor Patrick Mouratoglou quickly followed suit and did the same.

And then they got down to practice.

It was definitely an Andreeva practice because, if she’s still new to all the grown-up niceties, her tennis is already very grown up.

With Mouratoglou on the bag for this tournament, in the absence of a coach for Gauff after she parted ways with Diego Moyano after Miami (yes, Mom and Dad are here), there have been some pearl-clutching moments with the forehand.

At one practice earlier in the week, Gauff hit most of her forehands either into the bottom of the net or way long. The extreme grip she was taught was fine as she was on her way up. But dodgy technique eventually comes back to bite you. And for the last year or two opponents have been picking on that side relentlessly.

It’s a credit to how good Gauff is and what a fine competitor she is that she’s managed to consistently stay in the top 10 despite that flaw. And even with some moments of angst on court because of it, she often manages to shake it off and carry on.

Meanwhile, Andreeva did her thing.

Here’s what that looked like.

On Saturday, when the score actually counted, Gauff kept her cool after losing the first set in a tiebreak. She then outlasted an opponent who had three extra matches in the qualifying before even getting to the main draw.

Time passes quickly

Gauff is a defending finalist in Paris, even if that feels like an eternity ago.

She also was the junior champion, just four years ago.

Andreeva, who ended 2021 as the No. 14 junior in the world even though she was only 14, rose to the No. 1 ITF junior ranking last Monday even though she only played three junior tournaments in 2023.

She made the final in all of them: the Traralgon warmup for the junior Australian Open, the Australian Open juniors proper (losing 7-5 in the third to Alina Korneeva, who is the No. 3 seed in the Roland Garros juniors this week), and then a “J500” level event in Cairo, Egypt in late February.

Never a big winner in the juniors

Andreeva’s biggest junior title was at the “J2” level, in Spain in Oct. 2021. She lost to Alexandra Eala of the Philippines twice (once at the US Open, where Eala ended up winning title).

She was beaten by Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic at last year’s Roland Garros juniors, at the quarterfinal stage (Bejlek also ended up qualifying in the women’s event this year).

Two summers ago, when they were both 14 – Andreeva lost 6-1, 6-0 at a top-level junior tournament in College Park, MD to Brenda Fruhvirtova, who also qualified in Paris this year.

The two are about three weeks apart in age, when Fruhvirtova being the elder.

But Andreeva, who has gotten a whole lot less publicity, has burst out of a quality teen pack this spring and is certified showtime.

A lot of times, parents and agents will have juniors hang on at that level until they “win their Slam”, before becoming a full-time pro. I suppose it looks good on the resumé – in that way that being class valedictorian in high school ends up being a completely meaningless accomplishment once you get to college and all the other kids were the smartest in their class as well.

Clearly those around Andreeva wisely realized that in the big picture, it was the right time. Or perhaps the plan was to try the qualifying in Paris, and then play the juniors and bag that major if that didn’t work out.

Of course, it worked out – big time.

She is 20-3 in the pros this year. And after starting the season just inside the top 300, she’ll jump into the top 100 even after the loss to Gauff.

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