By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Pre-match rituals have given Mirra Andreeva plenty of food for thought ahead of the Australian Open, with the Russian teenager hoping her choice of chicken and rice with parmesan cheese on top can fuel her to glory at the Melbourne Park major.
The 17-year-old is a dark horse at the year’s first Grand Slam after a strong 2024 season in which she reached the semi-finals of the French Open, stunning world number one Aryna Sabalenka along the way.
Seeded 14th in Melbourne, Andreeva dished out a 6-3 6-3 win over Czech Marie Bouzkova in the opening round on Sunday before explaining her “complicated” food habits at tournaments.
“If I start the tournament eating chicken and rice I can’t change after. I can’t take pasta or I can’t take anything else. I’ll always take chicken and rice,” she told reporters.
“I have a pretty special thing. I like to eat rice with a bit of parmesan cheese on top. I don’t know. I have never seen anyone doing that, but I really like it.
“Since the start of the tournament, if I start like this, I’ve got to continue like this. Even if I’m tired, I have no choice, but I have to eat it.”
Andreeva said her coach, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, had tried to help her break the rigid rituals at the start of the season before she too got caught up in the superstitions.
“In Brisbane, I won my first match, and she was doing the recovery shake for me and she spilled the powder all over the players desk,” said Andreeva.
“Since then she was coming there after each match I won and spilling the powder. I didn’t know about this. So the girl from the players desk told me, and I was like, ‘Okay but you told me we stop this and you do it by yourself’.
“So I guess the moment to stop it isn’t here yet. We’re going to continue. Maybe next year we’ll try to avoid it.”
Andreeva takes on Magda Linette or Moyuka Uchijima in the second round.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
