Kim Clijsters weighs in on Mirra Andreeva’s outburst at Indian Wells

Following her defeat to Katerina Siniakova at Indian Wells, Mirra Andreeva expressed visible displeasure.

The defending champion was heard shouting expletives as she made her way off the court, clearly frustrated with how things had gone.

Andreeva let her feelings show, and the crowd definitely noticed. Now, former world number one Kim Clijsters has weighed in on the situation.

Kim Clijsters backs Mirra Andreeva after Indian Wells outburst

Speaking on the latest episode of ‘Love All’, Clijsters weighed in on the situation.

“At times we forget that right, that she’s only 18, and she’s going through this whole process for the first time,” she began by saying.

“We talk about it with [Aryna] Sabalenka, we love seeing the emotions, there are people that say it’s too much at times, but I love seeing the emotions!

“Do I think it’s always the best for them? No, I don’t think it always helps their tennis in the best way, but I do think it’s fun to watch, where you see players maybe get mad at their team, get annoyed with themselves, sighing, rolling their eyes, whatever it is, it’s fun to see those emotions.

“But when it gets to a point, I think with [Mirra] Andreeva, you can see her at times crying on court, it’s hard to get that out of your head and really just focus on what you have to do.

“I hope for her, and I know Conchita [Martinez] has been working with her for a long time, and working on the mental side of that, too, is to just get her to play and stay in the moment, and that’s what it all comes down to.

“We all have those negative thoughts in our heads, but as you get older, you’re just a little bit better at dealing with the negative thoughts and not letting them take over.”

Clijsters went on to praise Andreeva for how quickly she rebounded from the incident, picking up a win in doubles alongside Victoria Mboko shortly after.

The 42-year-old added: “But good for her, to be able to go out a couple of hours later and play, kind of leave the site in Indian Wells and go back to the hotel with somewhat of a good feeling, knowing that you’ve been able to still enjoy your time on court, because that’s always important as well.

“There’s nothing worse than when you get back to the hotel room, and you’re by yourself, and you have that feeling of losing the match. I played horribly, and my attitude wasn’t great.

“That’s a horrible feeling when you sit there by yourself, and you have to try and face your team.

“But good for her, that she was able to have her doubles and hopefully leave the courts on a high note.”

What Mirra Andreeva said about her post-match behaviour

Andreeva addressed the incident later on during her media duties, where she said: “There were a lot of emotions that I was going through after the loss.

“But of course I’m not really proud of how I managed it. I’m not really proud of how I handled it in the end.

“Those are the things that I really need to work on soon. I don’t know. Not in the future, but whenever I get the chance.

“Yeah, I hope that I can work on it and I get better in that, as well.”

The 18-year-old also stated that there was not a specific target for her frustration, admitting she was simply upset about her performance and let it show.

She added: “It was to myself, to everyone, basically.

“After the loss, I just get very angry, so I say those things sometimes to myself.

“I mean, first to myself, of course, but then, yeah, it was just anger coming out, just a lot of emotions.

“Not really towards anyone.”

Andreeva will be hoping to keep her cool when she gets back into singles action at next week’s Miami Open.

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