Asked by a reporter this week to describe the journey of her tennis career, Amanda Anisimova paused, then laughed.
"I guess a bit of a roller coaster," she answered.
The 23-year-old American is on the doorstep of her first Grand Slam title, set to play in Saturday's Wimbledon final against Poland's Iga Swiatek. She could become the first U.S. woman to win Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2016.
Anisimova was a prodigy at 17, bursting into the spotlight with a breathtaking run through the 2019 French Open in which she didn't lose a single set until her semifinal loss. At the time, it wouldn't have seemed like much of a gamble to predict that the 2025 Wimbledon final was where her career would take her.
But then that wouldn't have been a roller coaster, would it?
Anisimova's appearance in the Wimbledon final is a remarkable bounceback for a player who was once so racked by stress that she took an indefinite break from the sport to tend to her mental health — a break during which she was warned she might never return to form.
"Being able to prove that you can get back to the top if you prioritize yourself, that's been incredibly special to me. It means a lot," Anisimova said this week.
Homesickness and stomachaches
Anisimova's promise as a junior player and then that starmaking French Open run flung her into the fast-paced world of high-level professional tennis. In 2019, she also competed in tournaments in Mallorca, London, Beijing, New Zealand and Dubai.
It was a grueling schedule for a young adult. She has said she struggled with homesickness and stress so intense it would manifest in stomachaches. Her father, Konstantin Anisimov, died of a heart attack soon after her French Open run.
Then, in the wake of the pandemic, as athletes like tennis player Naomi Osaka began to speak more openly about their mental health challenges, Anisimova began to put voice to her own.
"Sometimes you doubt it. What if I get injured and I never get to play in a Grand Slam again? Those thoughts creep up in my head sometimes," she said at the Australian Open in 2022.
In those years, she never reached the same level of success that she experienced as a teenager. By mid-2023, the disappointments had piled up: a first-round loss in Melbourne, second-round losses in Dubai and Indian Wells, first-round losses in Miami and Madrid.
Anisimova has said she tried to simply push through the difficult times. But by May of that year, as the summer tennis season was about to kick into high gear, she announced on Instagram that she would step back from the sport.
"I've really been struggling with my mental health and burnout since the summer of 2022. It's become unbearable being at tennis tournaments," Anisimova wrote. "At this point, my priority is my mental well-being and taking a break for some time."
She didn't touch a tennis racket for months, she says now.
Instead, for the first time in her life, she tried to live like a normal 20-something. She posted about her experiences on social media: She took a road trip through the Great Smokey Mountains and a vacation in Europe. She held her older sister's newborn baby. She dabbled in painting and did a semester in college.
In the fall of 2023, she started training again and finally returned to the tour last year.
"I honestly never took a break that was longer than two weeks in my life. I just needed that, as a human being, to just rest for once and let my body recover," she said last year.
A bumpy return but now at the top
For professional athletes, it can be terrifying to take a break like Anisimova did because there's no guarantee they can return to the same level of play.
"When I took my break, a lot of people told me you would never make it to the top again if you take so much time away from the game," she told reporters this week. "That was a little hard to digest because I did want to come back and still achieve a lot and win a Grand Slam one day."
A low point came last year at Wimbledon, where she lost in qualifiers and failed to reach the main draw of the tournament. That was "heart-breaking," she said this week.
"Coming out of that break, it wasn't all upward," she said. "Getting used to the lifestyle, being an athlete at this level, it's not easy. I definitely had to find my way back."
This year at Wimbledon couldn't be more different. Anisimova has won six straight matches to reach Saturday's final, including a thrilling two-and-a-half-hour semifinal win over the world's top-ranked player, Aryna Sabalenka, on Friday.
Anisimova's swing has more power. She is playing more aggressively. Her backhand has been excellent. Her emotions are in check, allowing her to cling to contention when matches are on the line. And perhaps most importantly, she is enjoying the tour, she says.
No matter the result on Saturday, her run at Wimbledon will launch her into the top ten for the first time in her career.
"To be honest, if you told me I would be in the final at Wimbledon, I would not believe you," she said during her on-court interview Thursday after the win over Sabalenka. "It's been such a privilege to compete here and to be in the final is just indescribable."
Copyright 2025 NPR
