Editor’s note: Starting Monday, Oct. 20, we’re publishing Road to the WTA Finals, an eight-part snapshot of the qualifiers and the form they bring to Riyadh. Check back all week for new installments.
More from the WTA Finals
She burst into our consciousness six years ago, winning the title in Bogota. Amanda Anisimova was only 17 years old, the youngest American to win a title since Serena Williams — two decades earlier.
Two months later, Anisimova scored a spectacular upset at Roland Garros, knocking out defending champion and World No. 3 Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. She’d fall to eventual winner Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals, but a rising star had announced herself.
The pressure on gifted young players, the weight of expectation both internally and externally, can be overwhelming. In 2023, Anisimova stepped away from tennis for a much-needed recharge. Two years later, after a slow-and-steady rebuild, she’s fulfilling her enormous promise.
In a word, it’s been a remarkable display of perseverance.
Anisimova broke through back in February with a title at the WTA 1000 event in Doha, her first in more than three years. At Wimbledon, she put together a scorching run, defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three terrific sets to advance to her first Grand Slam singles final.
The 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek was devastating at the time, yet at the next major, in New York, Anisimova replicated her Wimbledon result, defeating Swiatek in a straight-sets quarterfinal and two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka in the semifinals. Anisimova took Sabalenka to a second-set tiebreak but fell in the final. Nevertheless, her ranking climbed to a career-high No. 4 — and helped lock down a first-time berth in the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Anisimova rebounded again from a tough loss, taking the 1000 title in Beijing, defeating Coco Gauff and Linda Noskova in the last two matches. The ball-striking and the emphatic backhand that appeared in mere glimpses when she was a teenager are a consistent, clear and present danger to today’s opponents.
Anisimova’s 2025 Season By the Numbers
2025 Record: 45-16
2025 Titles (2): Doha (1000), Beijing (1000)
Previous WTA Finals Appearances: None
Defining Moment of 2025: The quarterfinal win over Swiatek at the US Open. Fifty-three days after that one-sided loss at Wimbledon, the New Jersey native flipped the script.
Notable Stat: Eight years after she played her first WTA 1000 (in Miami), Anisimova was a champion at that level for the first time in Doha. She beat six Top 40 players – all of them ranked above her – in Qatar, closing out Jelena Ostapenko in the final.
Defining Quote of 2025: “I really came out there with not an ounce of fear. I feel like I really made a point to myself, and also maybe to other people, that if you really put a positive mindset out there, just try and work through things, then you can have a positive outcome.” — Anisimova after beating Swiatek in a deafening Arthur Ashe Stadium
What This Title Would Mean (+ What to Watch for in Riyadh)
Greg Garber: The thunderclap on a career year.
It would also be an extremely popular victory, in part because Anisimova has been extremely open about the challenges she’s faced over the years. To come back from a No. 359 ranking at the end of 2023 to today’s Top 5, well … it almost feels like a Disney movie. To lose two Grand Slam finals and complete the season with a title — against the very best players in the world — would be a fitting way to tie the bow.
Brad Kallet: No doubt about it. It’s straight out of Hollywood.
There’s resilience, and then there’s what Anisimova has done over the past two years. The mental struggles. The excruciatingly long road back. The Wimbledon loss. But all she’s done is get stronger in the face of adversity, into the upper echelon of the sport. An important and meaningful lesson for everyone, in every walk of life.
After the US Open final, Sabalenka said that Anisimova will win a major. She won’t do it this year, but she might get the next best thing. It would surprise no one.