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LeBron James Congratulates Mirra Andreeva for Indian Wells After She Used Him As Motivation

The 17-year-old tennis phenom rewatched an interview of James's before heading onto the court for her championship match.

Madison Williams

Mirra Andreeva poses with the Indian Wells trophy after winning the title.
Mirra Andreeva poses with the Indian Wells trophy after winning the title. / Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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At age 17, Mirra Andreeva won the Indian Wells title in three sets over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday.

What, or who, motivated Andreeva as she won the biggest tennis title in her young career? Well, no one other than Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. The Russian tennis player admitted after her championship match that she watched a James interview before taking the court.

"I was listening to the interview of LeBron James and he was saying that even if you don't play your 100% and even if you don't feel like you're 100% physically, I'm gonna choose to be 100% mentally," Andreeva said on Sunday, via Tennis Channel. "He said that that's what makes us champions, so I kind of tried to do the same."

Her admission about James inspiring made its way back to the four-time NBA MVP himself. He posted a congratulatory message to Andreeva on Instagram on Monday.

"Mirra CONGRATULATIONS!!!!" James wrote. "Happy to have helped but honestly YOU did that! All your hardwork, drive and dedication towards your craft! Keep going! #striveforgreatness."

It was a historic win for Andreeva, too. After beating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals and Sabalenka in the finals, Andreeva became the first women's tennis player under the age of 18 to defeat world Nos. 1 and 2 in back-to-back matches since 23-time major winner Serena Williams, who achieved the feat back in 1999 at the US Open.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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