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Mirra Andreeva is in Indian Wells to defend her title at the BNP Paribas Open. After the 2025 season she was able to finally pick up her new dog Rassy. Unfortunately, the Russian had to leave the pup behind when she travelled to Australia, a country notorious for strict quarantine rules for pets. Rassy also was not able to join her owner in the Middle East, where the 18-year-old reached the quarterfinals in Dubai.
California is the first chance the two have to visit a tournament together. Andreeva is doing her best to stay grounded through the tour lifestyle: “It’s pretty complicated to have a regular life.” Adding, “The best I can do is to try to bring my family with me to the tournaments. Now also we can try to bring our puppy and it’s the first time that I traveled to the tournament with a dog, so it’s also a new experience for me how to not just focus on myself but also take care of another little creature that follows me around everywhere.”
At one year old now, the Labradoodle is already bigger than she had anticipated, “My puppy was supposed to be ultra mini. We can for sure all agree that she’s not ultra mini.” She laughed and added, “We are just praying that she’s just not going to grow anymore and she’s just going to stay like this.”
One thing that has changed for the the world No. 8 is her relationship with coach Conchita Martinez. She told Women’s Tennis Blog, “We still have a lot of fun. We work a lot and we know when it’s time to maybe stop having fun and really get into work.”
Asked if defending points was a burden, she told reporters, “I’m just so excited to be here as a defending champion, see my photos almost everywhere in every corner. It’s just nice to be here again, and now I don’t feel any pressure on defending points.”
As the eighth seed, Andreeva received a first round bye. Her second round match will be played Saturday against the winner of Peyton Stearns versus Solana Sierra.
