By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) -When Amanda Anisimova reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals as a 20-year-old in the summer of 2022, she was being hailed as the “next big thing” in American tennis along with Coco Gauff.
But instead of providing a launch pad for her career, that achievement led to a downward spiral.
From mid-August that year to the following May, Anisimova failed to win back-to-back matches in any of the 10 tournaments she entered, winning a paltry four matches in total during that miserable nine-month run.
With her time on the tour taking a toll on her mental health, in May 2023 she pulled the plug on her tennis year to try and get away from it all, after realising that she was simply burned out from the never-ending cycle of defeats.
When she made her comeback to the Grand Slam stage at the Australian Open last year, her ranking had plummeted to 442 but, now rejuvenated and ready to go again, that statistic did not faze her.
She made it to the last 16 before running into eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka, and rather than getting down in the dumps, Anisimova took it as proof that her career was back on an upward trajectory as it was the first time since Wimbledon 2022 that she had won three successive matches.
Even when she failed to qualify for Wimbledon last year, while ranked 189th, she knew that mentally she was in a better place than she had been 12 months earlier.
Fast forward 12 months and things are looking bright and sunny again for Anisimova – albeit at a soggy Wimbledon.
Seeded 13th, she is back in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon following a nerve-shredding 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory over Czech 30th seed Linda Noskova – a result that will allow her to break into the world’s top 10 for the first time.
“I was just super excited to compete here … and just being seeded was already really special,” said the 23-year-old, who opened her Wimbledon account by handing Yulia Putintseva the dreaded 6-0 6-0 double bagel in the first round.
“I felt really good about myself because I think it was just a huge reminder of all the work and progress I’ve made so far this year.
“I knew that every match was going to be a battle, which it has been. I’ve just been really enjoying the journey here.”
With French Open champion Gauff having suffered a shock first round exit at Wimbledon, Anisimova and 10th seed Emma Navarro, who plays her last 16 match against Mirra Andreeva on Monday, are the only Americans left with a chance of lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish come Saturday.
Anisimova will fancy her chances of reaching the semi-finals at the grasscourt major for the first time considering she holds a 3-0 win-loss record against her next opponent, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“Ever since I took my break, I just found this new perspective and this newfound sense of fighting for everything and accepting the challenges that come and embracing them,” said Anisimova, born in New Jersey to Russian immigrants.
“A lot of things have changed … I feel like my professionalism and work ethic has taken a whole 360. Everything is centred around my tennis and how I can prepare the best that I can.
“It’s super special and a surreal feeling to be in the top 10. If I thought to myself last year … that I’ll be breaking the top 10 by now, it would be pretty surprising to me, considering where I was last summer.”
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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