Mirra Andreeva has revealed that her first purchase after landing the £869,000 Indian Wells prize was a lego version of the Mona Lisa. The tennis star landed the second Masters 1000 title of her career by beating Aryna Sabalenka in two sets.
Russian player Andreeva is only 17 and is therefore too young to have a bank account in her own name. She has previously revealed that her finances are controlled by her father, although that could change when she turns 18 on April 29.
“My dad bought me lego for the win,” Andreeva told fellow Russian Daria Kasatkina on the latter’s YouTube channel, What The Vlog.
“Big one or small one?” asked Kasatkina.
“I’m going to show you a picture,” Andreeva responded before withdrawing her phone. She showed Kasatkina a picture of the lego Mona Lisa before showing the camera, and revealed that it cost her £76 (€90). Kasatkina looked bemused before quipping: “Wow, and where did the rest of the money [go]?”
After winning the Dubai Tennis Championships last month, Andreeva revealed that her dad still controls her money as she cannot have a bank account in her name.
Responding to questions about how she will spend her prize money, the teenager said: “All questions to my dad. It all goes on his credit card because I don’t have my own yet. I cannot have my own bank account because I’m not 18.”
She joked: “I’m hoping that he will leave me some to spend somewhere, to buy chips and a Coke. Yeah, I don’t know. I’m going to ask him.”
Andreeva’s triumph moves her up to No. 6 in the WTA rankings. She is in a good position to achieve her best Grand Slam finish over the next few months, having reached the quarter-final of the French Open last year. Roland Garros is the next major.
Sobbing as she sealed her three-set victory over Sabalenka, Andreeva just about mustered the words to speak to the crowd in her on-court interview. Her total prize money now stands at around £3,796,988
“I’d like to thank myself – for fighting until the end, for always believing and for never quitting,” Andreeva told the Indian Wells crowd. “I tried to run like a rabbit because Aryna was sending bullets [across the net] and it was hard.”
