Russian ace Andreeva refuses to shake umpire’s hand after angry Wimbledon row

Russian teenage star Mirra Andreeva refused to shake the umpire’s hand after an angry row over being given a points penalty during her Wimbledon loss to Madison Keys.

Serving to stay in the tournament at 1-1 and 5-2 down on advantage in the third, Andreeva – who had already had a meltdown earlier in the match, throwing her racket at her chair – received a points penalty for a second violation of unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing her racket at the floor.

Andreeva was immediately incensed by the decision and confronted the umpire telling her she had ‘slipped’ and ‘got it wrong’. The Wimbledon crowd started to jeer as the two continued to row with Andreeva insisting “I didn’t throw the racket, I slipped and then I fell.” Despite her pleas of innocence, the umpire stuck to her guns, handing a points penalty to Andreeva and subsequently giving Keys a match point, which she duly took to wrap up the match.

The 16-year-old was left so angry with the umpire that she refused to shake her hand at the end of the match and appeared to be crying as Keys celebrated her win to advance to the quarter-final.

Andreeva had been the talk of the tournament with the breakout star earning widespread praise for her brilliant form at SW19. Had she won the match, she would have been the youngest female player to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Anna Kournikova back in 1997 but it was not to be.

Initially, she seemed to be storming her way to the next round, breaking American Keys three times on her way to winning the first set 6-3. But Keys rallied back, clinching the second 7-6 (4) in a tiebreaker.

And it seemed to be all downhill from there on out for Andreeva as the youngster appeared to let her emotions get the better of her, throwing her racket in frustration at the end of the second before being comfortably beaten in the third and decisive set.

Keys will now face either world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka or Ekaterina Alexandrova, who face off later on Monday. Speaking after the victory, she said: “Coming out here, you know that she’s obviously a great player but you don’t want to be the person that loses to her for her to get to her first quarter.”

When asked whether she thought about that during the match, Keys laughed and added: “No of course not.” But then when interviewer Jenny Drummond jokingly stated the American was “lying”, Keys admitted: “Yes. I knew that if I could just stay in the match that hopefully my many, many, many more years on tour would kick in [laughs].”

It’s a milestone achievement for Keys though as she’s back in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the first time since 2015. She added: “It’s absolutely amazing. Obviously my quarter-final run all those years ago was amazing and I’ve fallen short a few times and it’s so great to be back in the quarter-finals here at Wimbledon.”