Amanda Anisimova seems as if she has been playing on the WTA tour for a decade, but she is still only 23 years old. She has been around long enough, though, to take a break from the sport and come back stronger. She did so for the second half of 2023.
At the time, she cited burnout from tennis and mental health concerns. Both are completely valid reasons for needing a break, but coming back better than she was before is still shocking. Aryna Sabalenka has known how good the American is for a while, however.
Heading into their semifinal match at Wimbledon on Thursday, the American led the all-time head-to-head against the Belarusian 5-3. The two had never faced each other on grass, though, a surface that should benefit both. Anisimova and Sabalenka are big servers and have huge forehands.
Amanda Anisimova reaches first Grand Slam final by defeating Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon
Sabalenka was trying to get to her first Wimbledon final, sure, but she wasn't going to take Anisimova lightly.
It was Anisimova's backhand that was working so well against the top seed in the first set, though. She laced the stroke down the line several times, baffling and frustrating Sabalenka. While the two players held serve in consistently tight games, Anisimova finally got a break, leading 5-4 to take the first set, one in which she had 13 winners and 15 unforced errors while Sabalenka had 9 and 13, respectively.
In the second set, both players held with ease midway through, and the set appeared to be headed to a tie-break. It was impressive that the American was able to swing away with the WTA No. 1, but she had the confidence she could after having so much previous success against Sabalenka.
Serving at 3-all, however, and after having a chance to break in the previous game, Anisimova suffered a dip in form. She had a 30-0 lead, but then hit a couple of unforced errors and had a double fault and was broken to go down 3-4. Sabalenka then consolidated the break by holding serve and eventually took the set 6-4.
The third set began with a Sabalenka break of Anisimova, but the American got the break right back and then held serve. The match appeared to be streaming toward whichever player could control their nerves better.
That seemingly was Anisimova. She got a second break of Sabalenka to lead 4-1, even while each game was tight. The American simply needed to keep holding serve to reach the final. She was able to do that to lead 5-2.
An odd exchange happened on the cross-over, though. The last point of Anisimova's hold saw the American win on a ball that clipped the net. She didn't say anything to Sabalenka, as many players will half-heartedly apologize for that kind of point. At the cross-over, Sabalenka asked Anisimova why she didn't say "sorry."
Maybe it was something that Sabalenka hoped would throw Anisimova off her game a bit, as the Belarusian then served at love in the next game. Anisimova seemed tight to start her next service game, and fell down 30-40, but a big serve got Anisimova back to even.
The American got to match point, but could not take advantage, and Sabalenka eventually got the break to get back to 4-5 and needed to hold to get back to even. She couldn't. Anisimova jumped out to a 0-40 lead and then got the break at 30-40 to take the third set 7-5.
Anisimova, who had made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon before (2022) and had made the semifinals at the French Open (2019), but will be in her first Grand Slam final, will face the winner of the Iga Swiatek and Belinda Bencic match on Saturday. The American might be considered a slight favorite.