WTA Rankings: Amanda Anisimova’s ‘oh, wow’ reaction after making breakthrough with latest Wimbledon win
Amanda Anisimova has come full circle as she failed to qualify for Wimbledon last year, but 12 months later she finds herself in the quarter-final with her run resulting in a breakthrough in the WTA Rankings.
Anisimova, who first rose to prominence when she reached the semi-final at the French Open as a 17-year-old in 2019, first made it to the last eight at Wimbledon in 2022 and she climbed to a career-high No 22 that year.
But burnout started to take its toll on her mental health and the following year she decided to take a break from tennis and by the time she returned in January 2024 she had slumped to No 442 in the rankings.
The rebuilding process was sometimes slow as she had to enter qualifying for Wimbledon, but she fell in the third round. Things, though, started to click during the second half of the 2024 season as she finished runner-up at the Canadian Open and returned to the top 50.
That form has continued in 2025 as she won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Qatar Open and in June she was a finalist at the WTA 500 Queen’s Club event, resulting in a new high of No 12.
But now she will jump another four places to No 8 after making a return to the quarters at Wimbledon, defeating Linda Noskova in three sets.
“I look at it, and I’m like, Oh, wow. It’s kind of a shock at first, and I can’t really process it,” Anisimova said.
“Then it’s like, Oh, yeah, I’ve played very well so far this year, so it kind of makes sense. I feel like I kind of look at it from both sides.
“It’s super special and surreal feeling to be in the top 10. If I thought to myself last year, if someone told me that I’ll be breaking the top 10 by now, I don’t know, it would be pretty surprising to me considering where I was last summer.
“Yeah, it’s super special. Just goes to show that all the hard work is paying off. So I feel pretty good about myself that I’ve been working that hard.
“I’m just super excited. Hopefully, I can keep building on it and going for more.”
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Anisimova, who is seeded 13th at the tournament, will hope to go one better this year following her run to the last eight three years ago and she will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the semi-final.
But she has a different mentality and work ethic these days.
“I think a lot of things have changed for myself. My work ethic and I feel like my professionalism has taken a whole 360. I prepare myself as best as I can. Everything is centred around my tennis and how I can prepare the best that I can and recover from my matches,” she said.
“Maybe a few years ago I wasn’t doing it quite to that extent. Everything was also pretty new to me. I mean, considering I was still young at that point when I got to the quarters.
” I think ever since I took my break, I just found this new perspective and this newfound sense of fighting for everything and accepting the challenges that come and embracing them. I think maybe I didn’t do it quite like I do it now back then.”
