Whoever said that tennis is for the weak has absolutely no clue about the physical, mental, and emotional strains that it has on the athletes. The ebbs and flows of tennis are what make the sport so difficult to master. Not many players can overcome the adversities that they face in their personal and professional lives causing many to crumble in defeat. However, for some, adversity only brings out the grit and determination that they never knew they had before—or at least that’s the case for top-ranked American Amanda Anisimova who has been able to push through her fair share of struggles to achieve great levels of success and establish herself as one of the most dominant players in the modern era of tennis.
Amanda was deemed as the next big star early in her tennis career. She won a junior grand slam title at the age of 16, defeating Coco Gauff at the 2017 Junior’s U.S. Open. After a few years, Amanda found success at bigger stages where she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2019 after defeating 11th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka. Later in the year, she reached the semifinals of the French Open, a feat that put her on the map and secured her status as a major contender on the WTA circuit.
Amanda’s successes continued before coming to a screeching halt. Her father passed away from a heart attack in August of 2019. Having a significant impact on her performance, Amanda faced several obstacles through her 2020 and 2021 campaigns before crashing outside of the top 80. She avenged these dreadful seasons through a resurgent 2022 season where she won the Gippsland Trophy, a warm up tournament, before the Australian Open. She reached the quarter finals of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon and regained her spot in the top 30 rankings.
Amanda’s 2023 season was stunted by several mental health struggles that made tennis, for her, feel unbearable to play. She took a long hiatus before returning to the tour at the beginning of 2024. She worked her way up again after dropping outside of the top 300, making it to the finals of the Canadian Open and catapulting her back into the top 40.
Amanda had the season of her life in 2025 as she took home two WTA 1000 trophies (Doha, Qatar and Beijing, China). She reached her first grand slam final after achieving a victory over world number-one Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals of WImbledon. In the final, she faced a tragic defeat as she went through the entire match without winning a single game, losing to Iga Swiatek 0-6, 0-6. The heartbreaking final seemed as if it was going to take a toll on her confidence, but Amanda proved that persevering through heartbreak was the formula for unlocking greater strength. Amanda fought hard and made it to the finals of the U.S. Open where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. Despite another disappointing result in a final, Amanda finished off her season strong by winning the Beijing Open and breaking through and reaching the top 5 in the world.
Amanda’s resilience is what makes her story remarkable. Her ability to keep pushing despite everything that she has been through is what makes her one of the greatest players, and it is clear that she will stop at nothing to achieve even greater success in the future.
