Amanda Anisimova reveals how ‘role model’ Olympic champion helped inspire mental reset
Amanda Anisimova has revealed she is taking inspiration from “role model” and Olympic gold medallist Alysa Liu’s approach to competing as an elite athlete.
Figure skater Liu was one of the high-profile stars of the Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina last month, winning team event and women’s singles gold to cement her place as one of the standout performers of the Games.
Liu had initially retired from skating at the age of only 16 in 2022, competing in the Beijing 2022 Games before hanging up her skates due to a lack of enjoyment within the sport, having been overtrained as a child.
However, the 20-year-old returned to competition on her own terms in 2024 and was crowned the world champion in 2025 before her double Olympic success.
Liu’s story draws some parallels with world No 6 Anisimova, with the tennis star more than aware of the struggles that life as an athlete can bring.
Anisimova was just 17 when she reached the semi-final of the 2019 French Open, though she lost her father later that year.
The American then took a mental break from the sport across the second half of 2023 and, after returning to action at the start of 2024, has produced the best tennis of her career.
Anisimova reached two Grand Slam finals and won two WTA 1000 titles in 2025, cracking the top 20, top 10, and top five of the WTA Rankings for the very first time.
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In action in Indian Wells this week, Anisimova is through to the fourth round of her home WTA 1000 event, and was asked about Liu’s story during her post-match press conference on Sunday.
She said: “Following her [Liu’s] story and her journey from before she even performed in the Olympics, I saw all the videos about her. I saw her when nobody really knew about her, and yeah, she blew up.
“Even before then, I thought it was very inspiring, and I like the fact that she’s still so young and she chose to be very independent and, you know, make decisions for herself. She’s not going to do things the way others will tell her to do, and that was kind of my way of going into my career when I was coming back.
“I saw a lot of similarities. She’s definitely more on the extreme end, which I love. It looks like she doesn’t care about anything, and I absolutely love that, and it seems to be very much her personality.
“I feel like I really needed something like that to kind of remind myself that, yeah, like life is short and try and enjoy what you’re doing, don’t take things too seriously. And with that, at least personally, results will come for me when I have that mindset.
“I’m not someone who does well when I’m an overperfectionist and I put a lot of stress on myself. It just doesn’t work.
“I really needed that. Even though she’s much younger than me, she’s very much a role model for me.”
Anisimova has been in solid form so far in 2026, reaching the quarter-final of the Australian Open, and the semi-final of the WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships.
The American has dropped two places in the WTA Rankings, in part due to her early exit at the Qatar Open last month, though looks well-placed to continue contending at the very top of women’s tennis this season.
Anisimova started her Indian Wells campaign last Friday with a rallying 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Anna Blinkova, before thrashing 25th seed Emma Raducanu 6-1, 6-1 in just 52 minutes on Sunday.
She will return to action at the tournament on Wednesday, where she faces an intriguing fourth-round test against tenth seed Victoria Mboko.
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