Wimbledon, England – A year ago, Amanda Anisimova was at her Miami home, spending time with friends and trying to keep little attention on her cell phone.
And she certainly didn’t follow the results at Wimbledon.
She lost in the final round of major qualifying. She called a “heartbreaking” defeat and left Europe without recording one victory in grass. She was not interested in watching the tournament and even left the practice court for a few days entirely.
Anishimova has recently returned from an eight-month mental health break from sports and has struggled to rediscover his position in the tennis ecosystem. People told her it would be difficult for her to return to the top of the game – she reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2022 – and they were right there.
But that was the case.
No. 13 Seedanishimoba, who played against No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the stifling afternoon heat on centre court on Thursday, took the latest unexpected step in their career full of them to advance to the first major final, stunning 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The crowd, who appeared to hold collective breath throughout the decision set, stoked her and showered her after the two-hour, 37-minute match was finally over.
Even Anishimoba was forced to express her distrust.
“To be honest, if you say you’re going to be in the final at Wimbledon, I don’t believe you,” the 23-year-old Anishimova said in a post-game court moment. “At least this isn’t that soon. I mean, it’s because coming back and being here is a year’s turn, meaning it’s not easy. And I dream of competing on this incredible court. It was a very privileged to compete here.
Currently facing five-time major champion Iga Swiatek, Anisimova has a chance to win the first Grand Slam title of her career on Saturday.
After winning the US Open Junior title in 2017 and reaching the 17-year-old major semi-finals at the 2019 French Open, few would have been surprised by the results of Anishimoba. Following her breakthrough in Paris, she found herself ranked just outside the top 20. There was a comparison with Maria Sharapova and soon a large approval agreement was followed.
But she unexpectedly passed away just a few months after running for her longtime coach, Roland Garros. She withdraws from the US Open. Soon the pandemic suspended sports for months. Then there was a positive Covid-19 test that sidelined her from the Australian opening in 2021.
She was back in 2022 with a comeback spring, making her fourth appearance at the French Open, running in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, but then broke her toe in the summer. When she returned to 2023, she opened the year by winning two main draw matches in seven tournaments.
In May 2023, she was ranked 46th in the world, having been several months since she recorded a victory before tennis announced she was leaving, saying she was “unbearable.”
During her stay, she always did everything she wanted to do, but she couldn’t because she traveled the world for the tournament. She spent time in Miami with friends and family, further developing her passion for painting, volunteered at a dog shelter and attended university classes.
“(It was) what I needed to reset where I was in my life and career,” Anishimova said Tuesday. “It was something I needed to do for myself.”
By July 2023, she had started working with performance coach Ricard Sesari two days a week. They gradually increase the intensity and time, and Anishimoba is increasingly intended for her return.
“She said she was going to play for Australia and would be in the best possible form,” Sesari told ESPN last year. “She was very motivated and knew what she wanted.”
Anishimoba did just that.
Ranked 442nd at the start of the tournament, Anisimova played in the helmed rankings at the 2024 Australia Open. Despite the rust, she reached the fourth round and recorded an astonishing victory over No. 13 seed Lude Mirasam Sonova and Paula Badosa. It was a better comeback than she could have predicted.
But, as Anisimova knew too well, progress is not necessarily straight. She didn’t play again until April. When she returned to her clay season, she only won two games in four events. Because of how discreet she played, her rankings remained outside the threshold to automatically qualify for Wimbledon. However, Anishimoba then turned her eyesight towards the hard coat.
Her hard work paid off. Through qualifying, she arrived in the quarterfinals at the City Open in early August, reaching the largest final of her career at the 1000 level Canadian Open. She lost in the first round of the 2024 US Open, but was back in the top 40 by the end of the year.
In February she won the most important title of her career at the 1000-level Qatar Open. She held her fourth show at the 2025 French Open and reached the first final of her career at Queen’s Club last month.
But there’s nothing compared to what she did with Wimbledon You.
Anishimova issued a statement in her first round match against Yulia Putintseva with a score of 6-0, 6-0 in just 44 minutes. She had to fight ever since. The set had to be determined in the third round and the fourth match, and they had to score a tough tiebreak in the quarterfinals against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“She played so well today,” Pavlyuchenkova said after the match.
Despite Anishimova’s persuasive run to Thursday’s semi-finals, Sabalenka was a three-time major champion who was about to reach the fourth straight slam final, but it was a clear favourite and had the best odds that everyone remains to win the tournament. Anisimova has led a 5-3 career with Sabalenka taking part in the match, and is one of the few players who fit Sabalenka’s powers, but Sabalenka won the final meeting at the French Open on June 7-5, 6-3, and looked simply on another level.
However, with the heat that was close to recording and almost no wind blowing, Anishimoba found a way to pass the conditions with his opponent.
Despite two play breaks due to medical emergency for those in the stands of the first set, it was Anisimova who won the first break of the contest at the end of the opening set, when Sabalenka double folded and Anisimova took the lead. But Sabalenka did not go away quietly, literally figuratively – she leveled her up in the second set. Sabalenka then defeated Anishimoba in the first game of the decision set, looking inevitable, and Sabalenka pulled away.
“If you told me you were going to be in the final at Wimbledon, I wouldn’t believe you. At least this isn’t going to happen anytime soon.”
After making her first major final, Amanda Anishimoba of America pic.twitter.com/gufw94ho8w
-espn (@espn) July 10, 2025
But then Anishimoba broke. And then the Americans came to control primarily. There were nerves, several dramatic gatherings and four match points, but Anisimova became the first American to advance to the Wimbledon Finals since Serena Williams in 2019.
“I have to say I did my best,” Sabalenka said after the match. “I gave everything I had now… I have to say she was braveer than I am today. Maybe she was playing more aggressively, just like that, she was doing for everyone.”
By the time the crowd was sitting back in their seats, a disappointed Sabalenka had already left the court and was on her way to the locker room. Meanwhile, Anishimova appeared to be soaking it all when he stood in court and saw her family and friends, including her two young nephews, in a box.
“To be honest, this is not realistic right now,” Anishimova told the crowd. “Aryna was such a tough competitor and I was definitely dying there. Yeah, I don’t know how I pulled it out. I mean, she’s an incredible competitor, she’s an inspiration for me and I’m sure many other people have so many tough battles.
Anishimova, who will crack the top 10 for the first time next week, is now the fourth consecutive American woman, reaching the slam final and joining Jessica Pegra at the US Open, Madison Keys at the Australian Open and Coco Gough at the French Open. She now hopes to continue the season sweep for the Americans by doing what Keys and Golf can do.
Swiatek, a five-time major champion, won the much-anticipated breakthrough in Grass over two weeks. She had never made any progress past the quarterfinals in a tournament before, but she was dominant this year. She dropped one set on her way to the final in the other semi-finals on Thursday, routed 6-2, 6-0.
Surprisingly, it will be the first tour-level meeting of Anisimova and Swiatek. They only played against each other once in the 2016 Junior Fed Cup final. Swieitok defeated Anishimova 6-4, 6-2 to help Poland win the title.
Anisimova’s coach told her that Swiatek “is going to be a big deal one day,” but now he has the opportunity to make history and win his first Wimbledon title. Anisimova knows it will be a challenge to “an incredible player”, but she looks forward to the “fight”.
“I’m just trying to get out and enjoy every moment and not think about what’s in line there,” Anishimova said.
And no matter what, she hopes that she has accomplished, as she will prove that she can do it to everyone, including those who suspected her.
“I think it shows that it’s possible,” Anishimova told reporters. “I think that’s a really special message. When I took a break, I said that if I had that long from the game I wouldn’t get to the top again, so I think I could have shown.
“That’s very special to me because if you prioritize yourself you can prove that you can go back to the top. Yeah, that means a lot.”
