Spotlight: Amanda Anisimova

For all the talk of teenagers no longer being able to break through on the women’s tour due to the increasing physical demands of the game, Amanda Anisimova is helping to disprove it.

The American, who just turned 17, advanced to her first WTA final in Hiroshima last week after starting the tournament in the qualifying rounds.

Despite her 6-2 6-2 loss to the vastly-more-experienced No.2 seed Hsieh Su-Wei in that final, the result vaulted Anisimova to a career-high ranking of No.95, making her the youngest player inside the top 100.

Anisimova has built a win-loss record of 24-7 in 2018, and those wins have all come at WTA and WTA 125K events. She ended last season ranked No.192 and in less than a year has shaved almost 100 places off her ranking.

It’s been a startling rise, especially when you consider that last year she was competing in junior tournaments. She won the girls’ singles title at the US Open in 2017 after finishing runner-up in the same event at Roland Garros in 2016.

Her transition to the professional tour has been swift and decisive.

“I was particularly impressed by Anisimova when she ended Petra Kvitova’s 14-match winning streak at Indian Wells,” noted Reem Abulleil, freelance tennis writer and occasional contributor to Tennismash.

“She was just 16, able to create huge pace off both wings, but was particularly deadly with her backhand. It really is an unbelievable weapon. She was attacking Petra’s second serve and was very smart in using her opponent’s pace to strike back.

“She’s fairly quiet and composed off the court and it’s impressive that she’s already inside the top 100 even though she missed four months this season through injury.”

That injury was to her right foot; Anisimova went over on her ankle during her first-round victory in Miami and promptly withdrew from the tournament. It turned out to be a foot fracture that sidelined her until August.

Prior to that she had been on a roll, reaching the final of the 125K tournament at Indian Wells before straight-sets wins over Pauline Parmentier and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the main Indian Wells event. Then came her 6-2 6-4 stunner over Kvitova, who was ranked No.9 at the time.

Her return to the game after that layoff was almost as impressive. During the US Open Series, she qualified in San Jose and took a set off eventual champion Mihaela Buzarnescu in round two, and reached the last 16 in Cincinnati after straight-sets wins over seasoned campaigners Timea Babos and Petra Martic. And then came Hiroshima.

For such a young player, Anisimova possesses impressive physical strength, and is already listed at 180cm tall (or 5’11” in imperial terms).

Born and raised in the United States with Russian parents, Anisimova has been coached by her father for her entire life and has also worked with Nick Saviano after the family relocated from New Jersey to Florida.

Anisimova confirmed Abulleil’s observation that she is a quiet presence in the game, admitting at Indian Wells: “I have been working on that a lot, just not showing any emotions.”

Yet somewhat unusually for a young player, she has been quite forthright in her discussion of political issues and with the content she shares on social media.

Revealing that equal rights advocate Billie Jean King is her role model, Anisimova also made her position clear on gun control in the aftermath of the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida in February 2018.

“That’s definitely terrible. I actually had a friend that goes to that school. It’s really close to me. It’s really sad what’s going on. I think that guns should be banned. That’s what my opinion is,” she said.

“You should have stricter laws on that for sure. And I don’t think teachers should be having guns in school because I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think that we just have to take them out.”

pic.twitter.com/CxMt3KXz4O

— Amanda Anisimova (@AnisimovaAmanda) March 8, 2018

Anisimova’s rise comes at a time in the women’s game where successful players’ ages are skewing younger.

Naomi Osaka won the US Open at age 20, a year after Jelena Ostapenko triumped at Roland Garros just two days after her 20th birthday.

Anisimova is the third player born in 2001 – the others being fellow 17-year-olds Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova – to reach a WTA final.

And she is loving the benefits that come with being a fast-rising young phenom on tour.

“I have no pressure going onto the court, and all I can think about is having fun, whatever happens,” she said.

“That’s definitely an advantage.”