Note: Throughout December, wtatennis.com will be running a series of interviews with players who are poised to make a mark in 2026 after impressive comebacks or breakthroughs in 2025.

More scouting reports: Kaja Juvan

Ann Li started 2025 just inside the Top 100 of the PIF WTA Rankings, and she had a lofty goal for herself: break into the Top 30.

It would be new territory for the American, but hardly unreasonable. The 25-year-old American had cracked the Top 50 back in 2021, but over the next two years struggled to regain her early-career form and stumbled out of the Top 200.

“I lost a little bit of joy in playing,” she admitted when reflecting on those challenging years. “And that was maybe the hardest part, because I genuinely love tennis.” 

Through the first seven months of 2025, Li had managed to inch her way up the rankings week by week, getting up to No. 69. But the goal of hitting that magic No. 30 by year’s end seemed far-fetched, if not possible.

Then Cleveland happened. During a rain-soaked week at the end of August, Li found her game and won four straight hard-fought matches to reach the final. She followed that up with a fourth-round showing at the US Open, her best-ever result at a major, upsetting 16th-seeded Belinda Bencic in the second round and competing in Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time in her career (a loss to Jessica Pegula).

She carried that momentum into Asia, where she had never played, and won the WTA 250 Guangzhou Open, the second title of her career and first in four years. 

That result catapulted her to World No. 33, and she finished the season at No. 38. She had narrowly missed the goal, but that hardly mattered. She had reached a new career high, and her career was firmly back on track.

So what changed in 2025?

The Pennsylvania native rediscovered the joy in the game she loved, for one thing, and started working with a new coach, Carlos Boluda.

“It’s really tough when you’re not doing well,” Li said, “because it’s so hard not to compare yourself. Honestly, results are the most important thing. One of the biggest goals when I started with Carlos was just to find the joy and be happy again.”

With the help of Boluda, Li began to alter her mindset and approach, working to limit the emotional toll of the constant highs and lows that come with life on tour.

On court, she focused on playing more aggressively and being more physical, but doing so smartly and not forcing the issue. She had the same mantra on every point: Make the opponent earn every shot, every return, every movement. If a player was going to beat her, she’d have to really work for it. 

“If you’re not having a great day, it doesn’t matter,” Li said of her mindset shift. “You still have to be able to perform and win and find a way to compete. You’re playing against one person. You just have to be better than that one person on that day.” 

After working with former coach Henner Nehles for nearly three years, Li’s decision to go in a different direction wasn’t made lightly. And that isn’t hyperbole. A few months after hiring the Spaniard, Li — who has lived in Orlando, Atlanta, Delray Beach and Charleston during her career — made the bold decision to leave the United States and move to Spain, where her coach and the rest of her team lives.

Li moved to the Mediterranean port city of Alicante in January without friends and family, fully committing herself to getting the most out of her partnership with Boluda. (Li’s parents did visit in the offseason, and her mom cooks up a storm when she’s in town.)

She loves the city — she lives right by the beach — and spends time with Boluda and his family. She also doesn’t mind the alone time. The peace and quiet is necessary for recharging, and is more than welcome after the hustle and bustle of months on the road. But she admits that life abroad has been an adjustment, not knowing many people and not speaking the native language.

It has most certainly translated to results, though, and she continues to use the location to her advantage. With not much else to do but hit and train, she’s used the offseason to continue improving and get in peak shape for the 2026 season.

“I’ve never been more sore in my life,” she said. “We’re training so hard. It’s a lot of intense fitness. My friend invited me to go to this carnival, and I didn’t go because my legs are dead. Going into next year, I’m trying to stay consistent. I’m working on little things here and there, like trying to improve my second serve, but the main focus is to stay consistent, cut down the errors and make it really hard for the other player to win one point.”

Going into 2026, Li isn’t setting any concrete rankings goals. Doing so creates unnecessary pressure, she said, and she can only control her game.

“It’s a balance,” the former Wimbledon girls’ finalist said. “It’s good to put a little bit of pressure on yourself in terms of rankings, but I try not to think about it too much. It’s not the best thing to think about.”

Of course the plan is to keep winning and keep climbing. She’s put herself in position to do so, with her ranking providing more direct entries and opportunities to be seeded. 

She’ll begin her season in Brisbane — a tough field already, with four of the Top 10 players committed — and then head to either Adelaide or Hobart before the Australian Open.

“I want to see where I’m able to go,” Li said. “I don’t know where the roof is. I don’t want to say there is a roof. But ultimately, the goal is just to be the best I can be, and hopefully that turns out really well.”