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Breaking news in the CBS Sports HQ where Mirra Andreeva has won the French Open. She took down Maya Helinska in straight sets in the women's final at Roland Garros. Andreeva, at just 19 years old, becomes a first-time Grand Slam champ. She is the youngest woman to win the French Open since Monica Seles in 1992. Let's welcome in CiCi Bellis here to break down what we saw in this French Open final. First off, what did you see in this match? Yeah, it was quite an interesting one. And, you know, it's been an interesting Roland Garros this year in terms of weather. We had extreme heat in the first week, and then the temperature was dropped, and we had so much wind. And
today, even the players were struggling with the wind a little bit. And, you know, it's it's definitely something that we expected, you know, coming into it, that both players would be a little bit nervous. You know, both playing in their first Grand Slam finals. Of course, Andreeva having a little bit more experience in those big matches. Uh but, they both handled it well. You know, Andreeva um obviously handled it a bit better. I think the start of the match, there were a kind of a couple breaks traded back and forth to get going. And then, Andreeva really settled in. It was all her today. I think, you know, we were kind of expecting Helinska to have a day where she would, you know, run out
of gas. And it, unfortunately, came in the final today. But, jeez, I was so impressed with Andreeva. She's actually dealt with um you know, some emotional kind of roller coasters, highs and lows. You know, she's the type of player to sometimes lose her cool. And she was actually uh struggling with that a little bit in the beginning few rounds. And after the third round, she's got such a great team around her. They kind of came together, and they said, you know, "Hey, Mirra, if you want to make it far in Grand Slams, if you want to, you know, continue improving those results and getting deep into these tournaments, especially at the Grand Slam level, you've got to learn to
really control your emotions, and you've got to keep it cool out there." And I think today was the biggest test, of course, of her career to try and implement that. And she did so well. I mean, she was calm, cool, and collected. We barely even saw emotions from her when she won. Like at the end, you know, she got a little bit nervous up 5-0 in the second, but handled it so well, and I think that was um kind of what impressed me the most today. Yeah, I think you can chalk up a lot of that to just her youth, too. I mean, she's the youngest French Open winner, as I said, since 1992.
How impressive is it not just to win the French Open, but to do it at 19 years old? It's crazy. And you know, Mirra is someone that, you know, you've heard her name for the last few years, and we knew that she was kind of this like teenage prodigy coming up, but to get a Grand Slam under your belt, that's a whole different level. You know, we expected her to continue improving, continue building her game, and uh you know, results would come at some point, but at 19 to win a Grand Slam, she's definitely going to have, you know, all eyes on her the rest of this season, and of course, the rest of her career, but I think, you know, she's really targeting that number one ranking next.
You know, she's she's achieved so much in such a young career. Again, being 19, she's eight in the world right now. I think the live rankings have her around number six after winning today, and she'll be chasing that number one ranking. Yeah, as you mentioned, even though she's just 19 years old, I mean, she has been an up-and-comer for a few years now, a name that we needed to be aware of. Now we absolutely have to know. Where does this win now put her among the elites of women's tennis who's playing right now? She's up there. I'd say, you know, right up there with Sabalenka, with Swiatek. Um I think those two have been kind of separated themselves, I'd say, from the pack, especially Sabalenka this year. Um and Andreeva just handled the
French Open a lot better. Of course, clay is has been historically her best surface in terms of results, but I think Andreeva's game actually, you know, translates to pretty much every surface. She's got a big baseline game. Her serve is really solid. She's improved her serve over the last couple years, as well, but she can pretty much out-hit anyone from the back. So, I think she's going to transfer really well to grass. And I think, you know, having that pressure on her from winning the French Open, it'll be interesting to see how she handles that kind of going into the next um you know, Grand Slam, but you know, let alone even the warm-up tournaments. We'll see how she can
handle kind of all eyes on her even more now. Mentioned kind of the craziness of the weather with this French Open. We also saw a lot of upsets, um but she never had to face a player ranked higher than her necessarily. So, you could say that she just kind of took care of business. What impresses you about the way that she didn't let any of those kind of early emotions um steer her wrong, and she just kept going and ended up as champ? Yeah, I mean, listen, she's really struggled kind of keeping her cool out there. And you know, there's been memes thrown around social media and everything about how she's lost it a few times in matches. And we have to remember, she's so young. Like, she's
experiencing the most insane levels of pressure, you know, as an early teenager to start and you know, obviously as a late teenager now, but there are going to be times, of course, where her emotions get the best of her. But how she handled the moment today and you know, the it's a it's an unimaginable level of nerves, you know, going in, especially for her being her first Grand Slam final. She was so calm, cool, and collected. And again, like you said, you know, she didn't maybe have the toughest draw. In theory, this would have been like a dream Grand Slam like final player to play against being a qualifier, you know, outside the top 100. Um but Woelcke is, you know, a tricky one. And Andreescu handled it so
well, especially with the conditions. There was a lot going on. She's playing, you know, not only her opponent today, but she's playing her nerves being the first you know, being in the first Grand Slam final. She's playing the weather. It was, you know, 25-mph winds. There's a lot of extra, you know, elements going on, and she handled it perfectly. All right, we had to give the winner her flowers, but Woelcke playing in this match in general is incredibly impressive. It'll jump her from 114th to number 21 in the world. So, even in a loss, how does this catapult her career? Yeah, I mean, it'll be really interesting to see how she handles the pressure as well because her entire
career, you know, she's been outside the top 100. She hasn't, you know, consistently played uh main draw Grand Slam. She had to come through qualifying here. So, I'm really interested to see how she actually handles the pressure. We've seen, you know, um not necessarily just at the French Open, but in Grand Slams in general, sometimes we see those like Cinderella stories. Actually, last year at the French Open, we saw it from the French player Burel Ann. She made it to the semifinals after, you know, no one had really heard of her before and you know, she kind of dropped her level off after that. We haven't seen a ton from her since then. So, I'm really interested to see if Volynets can kind
of keep that level and prove and kind of show that this wasn't just a fluke event. So, I'm really excited to see it. She grew up training with Swiatek and has played doubles with Swiatek. She knows, you know, kind of what it takes just from Iga's level to get to the top. So, I'm interested to see if she'll lean on her for, you know, advice and support in this time and just, you know, if she can continue that amazing. It'll be interesting to see. Of how close all of them are as well, training together and supporting each other. Just love to see that. CC, thank you so much for breaking down an exciting French Open finish. So, we are two down, two to go in terms of Grand Slam champions so far. We got a winner in the Australian Open and today
the French Open, Mirra Andreeva, your French Open women's champion.
