With Andreeva putting the hot mic controversy to bed, the focus shifts to high stakes tennis on Tuesday at the WTA Finals.
Chris OddoNovember 10, 20262 minute read
Mirra Andreeva is ready to move on from the Jessica Pegula hot mic controversy that dominated headlines in the leadup to the WTA Finals at Indian Wells.
Speaking to reporters in the mixed zone after her 6-4, 6-0 victory over Elina Svitolina on Monday, the 19-year-old Russian confirmed that Pegula had approached her to apologize shortly after the incident.
“Yeah, I mean, I really appreciated that she came up to me on the same day,” Andreeva said. “I think maybe a couple of hours just went by, and she, you know, she approached me.
“I would like probably to keep what she said between her and I, but yeah, I really appreciated that she just came up to me. Obviously, she apologized, so yeah, there is no drama or anything behind it.
“Now we’re able to laugh about it, so I think that’s the most important.”
The controversy erupted when a private conversation between Pegula and coach Mark Knowles was inadvertently broadcast on YouTube during a practice session at Indian Wells, with comments about Andreeva quickly going viral.
But the two players had already publicly signaled that there were no hard feelings.
Andreeva posted a photo of herself and Pegula together on Instagram, captioning it “DIVAS,” to which Pegula playfully replied, “Divas in Chanel.”
And the jokes continued on Monday, when Madison Keys greeted Andreeva with a cheeky “Hey Diva” during an on-court encounter. The two shared a laugh before chatting briefly.
With the controversy seemingly behind them, the focus has returned to tennis.
Andreeva made a spectacular WTA Finals debut on Monday, powering past Svitolina in just 71 minutes to make a winning start to her round-robin campaign.
Pegula, meanwhile, suffered a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2 defeat to Coco Gauff in her opening match on Sunday.
