Mirra Andreeva says coach Conchita's unprecedented Italian Open record puts 'little bit' pressure on her

Mirra Andreeva has recalled the spectacular achievements of her coach, Conchita Martinez, from thirty years ago. The 18-year-old tennis prodigy is preparing for the Italian Open this week and has shared that Martinez won the event over four successive years, from 1993 to 1996, which still remains a record.

Under the tutelage of Martinez, Andreeva has had an impressive start to her WTA career and has a number of records already to her name. She's already won three WTA titles, including this year's WTA 1000 events in Dubai and Indian Wells. She was also a semifinalist at last year's French Open.

Having lost in the quarterfinal at last week's Madrid Open, where finalist Coco Gauff beat her, Andreeva took time to reflect on her task for next week in Italy. She posted on her Instagram stories, a graphic showing images of Conchita Martinez at the Italian Open, each of the four years the Spaniard won the event, captioning them with:

"Back to back to back to back. This puts pressure on me a little bit."

Mirra Andreeva IG Story | Source: Mirra Andreeva Instagram/@_mirraandreeva_

Andreeva played her first Italian Open last year. Unfortunately, she was bundled out of the tournament in the first round, beaten in straight sets by Paula Badosa, 2-6, 3-6.

Mirra Andreeva's coach, Conchita Martinez, had an astonishing Italian Open run

BNP Paribas Open - Final Day - Source: Getty

Conchita Martínez's achievement in winning four Italian Opens in a row is unprecedented. With her first win in 1993, when she defeated Gabriella Sabattini in the final in straight sets, she became the first Spaniard to take the trophy since Lili de Álvarez in 1930. She then defeated Martina Navratilova 7-6, 6-4 to win in 1994, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 6-1 to notch her third title in 1995.

Martinez approached the 1996 tournament knowing that a fourth successive win had never been achieved. Undeterred, she beat a 15-year-old Martina Hingis in the final, again in straight sets. Known as a clay court specialist, she surprisingly never won the French Open, although she did make it to the final in 2000. Martinez achieved her one Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 1994.

Talking to the Tennis Channel, per thetennisgazette.com, in April, Conchita Martinez was effusive about Andreeva's progress in the 12 months they've worked together, and thinks the Russian teenager can begin to emulate her achievements:

“I think the progress, especially in the last couple of months, you know she just went up. Winning Dubai and winning Indian Wells, that was a little bit… I don’t know, I don’t want to say she couldn’t do it, but it was a progress and all of a sudden it just went like a sky rocket."

Mirra Andreeva has come some distance to go to mirror her coach's clay-court results. Her performances in 2025 suggest, with Martinez being in her corner, that she has the ability to get close .