Amanda Anisimova sends message to Aryna Sabalenka with display of her new strength
Amanda Anisimova fell to her knees and tapped on the blue hard court. With her dream of reaching a first final at the US Open accomplished, whatever magic that is unfolding in New York had worked its spell again.
Eight weeks after her 6-0 6-0 Wimbledon final defeat to Iga Swiatek, the 24-year-old from New Jersey has given herself another chance to win a grand slam title at the first opportunity. After avenging her defeat to Swiatek in the quarter-finals, Anisimova went one step further by overturning Naomi Osaka’s lead in a back-and-forth semi-final across almost three hours, setting up a final against the World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Perhaps an attacking game and talent that is as pure as Anisimova’s was always destined to shine at the US Open, the grand slam where big, first-strike hitting usually always comes out on top. But there is also an argument that without the humiliation Anisimova suffered on Centre Court, there would have been no US Open final just 54 days later.
“I think it just shows that I have worked really hard, especially on my mental game and not giving up,” Anisimova said. “Like today, I could have easily said, ‘oh, she’s playing better than me, and I can’t really do anything’. I really tried to find any way I could to stay in the match, even though it was extremely tough, and she was playing really great tennis.
“I think I have really worked on myself to really be able to handle those moments and to believe in myself, even when it feels like what is there to believe in, when you’re not playing that well. I think I have really done a better job of that, and especially since the Wimbledon final. I think I have really shifted with my attitude as well.”
For the second match in a row, Anisimova started slowly and took her time to settle. She was broken in her opening game, then faced 0-40 to prevent the double break. But Anisimova hung on, just as she did towards the end of the second set when the American broke Osaka from 40-0 down.
Even though Osaka won the first set anyway, and even though Anisimova was broken back immediately after the 4-4 game in the second, her growing confidence was one of the only constants in a match played out without any real rhythm or pattern, with wild momentum swings not allowing either player to pull away.
“I felt like I wasn’t playing my tennis because I was nervous, and I was letting the stress get to me a little bit, but then I tried to dig deep and find my game,” Anisimova said. “I feel like throughout the match I was able to find it more and more, and yeah, the most important thing was that I kept fighting.”
It culminated in Anisimova taking to the second-set tiebreak and scorching through Osaka with a sublime backhand winner, perhaps the finest of the 50 she sprayed across the court.
Even as match passed midnight and ticked towards the three-hour mark, Anisimova found she was able to hit through the court with more power and clarity. It was, by the end, the “no fear” approach that Anisimova wanted to bring.
The manner in which Anisimova reacted to the horror of the Wimbledon final has allowed a mental transformation that may not have occurred without the nightmare of what unfolded eight weeks ago, allowing the resilience she has shown to shine under the pressure of being the last American standing.
For the second year in a row, Sabalenka will face a home player in the US Open final when she takes on Anisimova on Saturday. The World No 1 prevailed in a tough battle of her own, seeing off the fightback from Jessica Pegula in a rematch of last year’s final. Sabalenka will look to extend her dominant record at the hard-court grand slams after reaching a sixth consecutive final on the surface.
But she will face an opponent in Anisimova who defeated her in the Wimbledon semi-finals, and leads their head-to-head 6-3. “It was really a seesaw match, which is almost always the case when I play her,” Anisimova said of the Wimbledon semi-final.
Even when she’s down, Anisimova has learned that she does not know when she’s beaten. She found that out after the toughest defeat of all, that may have instead led to a memorable shot at the ultimate redemption.
