She is the future star of French and probably world tennis.
What were you doing at 14? Most of you were probably still taking your middle school classes, but for some, 14 is the start of a high-level athletic career! Athletes are detected earlier and earlier, sometimes at a very early age, in order to monitor their progress.
This is the case in disciplines like tennis, where training begins earlier and earlier and younger. Academies exist and some have an international reputation such as that of Rafael Nadal, that of Juan Carlos Ferrero or even that of Patrick Mouratoglou, a renowned French coach.
On the current circuit, few players have ATP or WTA points at the age of 14/15/16, but some stand out like the young Russian Mira Andreeva who is shaking up the tennis world with her maturity and level of skill. game at 16. 293rd in 2022 at 14, she is now in 33rd place and is applying for the main draws of the 500/1000 and Grand Slam tournaments.
In France, a young player is also starting to make a name for herself, Ksenia Efremova. Russian by birth, the player was naturalized in 2023 and did not hide her joy at the time. “Today is a very special day for me. I would like to announce to you all that I have just been naturalized French and that I will very soon represent France in individual tournaments and team competitions. It is a huge honor that is granted to me and I will do everything to be worthy of it. Come on!”
The Frenchwoman has ambition, big ambitions even. When she was 12 years old, she already announced the color, “I want to win all the Grand Slams and become world number one at sixteen”. Two years later, she is already breaking records by becoming the youngest winner of a tournament on the ITF professional circuit since 2003, after her title at the Monastir tournament at the end of December.
At the start of 2024, Ksenia Efremova played her first junior Grand Slam match at the Australian Open, against 16-year-old Czech Tereza Valentova, finalist of the last US Junior Open. A first round and above all a first Grand Slam conducted smoothly since the Frenchwoman reached the quarter-finals in her first participation, eliminated by the Slovak Renata Jamrichova, number 1 among juniors and winner of the tournament a few days later.
The young French woman, full of talent, is unanimously appreciated by everyone. She also had the chance to have sponsors very quickly around her with equipment manufacturers Nike and Yonex who have been present since the start of the adventure, allowing Ksenia Efremova to afford high-level staff (tennis coach , mental trainer, nutritionist, endocrinologist).
