Amanda Anisimova did not so much climb back to the top of women’s tennis as hammer her way through the ceiling. A season that began with quiet optimism ended with the most complete year of her career: two Grand Slam finals, two WTA-1000 trophies, and a return to the world’s top five. Not bad for someone who, 18 months earlier, was ranked outside the top 400 and wondering what life on tour still had left for her.
A veteran at 24 — and the strange feeling of a second beginning
For someone still only 24, Anisimova carries the air of an old campaigner. “I’ve been on tour since I was 16, so in that sense it feels like a long time,” she told Sports Illustrated. Then came the twist: she’s too young to feel old, but too seasoned to feel new.
“It’s like a weird transition,” she said — a line that could double as the tagline for her career to date.
She arrived early, of course. A Roland Garros debut at 16, a French Open semifinal at 17, a WTA title and Top-25 finish by 18. She was marked for greatness, even if the breakthrough never quite arrived in the straight line many assumed it would.
By 2023, injuries and erratic form pushed her into a nine-month hiatus — a shocking pause for a 22-year-old. Yet the break did more than heal the body. “I think it was the best decision ever,” she said. “It changed me as a person off the court… I feel more comfortable and freer.”
The reset that lit the fuse
Her return in early 2024 was cautious, uneven, occasionally frustrating. But it was also a build. Top 200 in May. Top 100 by August after reaching the Canadian Open final. She closed the year at No. 36 — enough to put her back in the conversation, but not yet in the spotlight.
That changed in 2025, when Anisimova’s results suddenly matched her raw ability. “I won my first 1000 in February… at a really high level. That’s the biggest thing I’ve done to grow as a player,” she said. She didn’t stop there: Doha and Beijing in her pocket, plus finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
At Wimbledon, she cut through the draw and stunned the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka before being routed 6-0, 6-0 by Iga Świątek in a final that left her visibly dazed. It felt like a cruel reset — right until she ran into Świątek again in New York.
“I told myself it’s a new day, a new match… just focus,” she said. Then came the surreal warm-up-room moment: ESPN airing the Wimbledon final right in front of her.
“I didn’t look. I could see it from the corner of my eye… I think it fired me up. I thought: OK, we’re doing this.”
And she did, knocking the Pole out on the biggest American stage.
WTA Finals debut — and the confidence to stay
Her surge carried her into the WTA Finals, where she beat Madison Keys and scored another win over Świątek before bowing out in the semis. It was a week that confirmed she belonged in the late rounds of the biggest events — not as a surprise package, but as part of the establishment.
It all looped back to that decision in 2023, the one many around her didn’t quite understand.
“When I made my decision, people said: just push through it… it’ll get easier. But if I had done that, it would have set me back even more,” she said. “I knew I’d have to bust my ass, but I was ready for that. I just needed the reset.”
Quitting was never an option — but she admits she let the thought brush past her.
“What if I never came back? What if I just stopped? I didn’t like that thought. I still had so many things I wanted to achieve.”
What comes next?
Anisimova ends 2025 not as a comeback story, but as a contender — a player who rediscovered herself outside the court before rediscovering her ceiling on it. The talent was always there. The calm, the perspective, the resilience — those arrived later, delivered by a year she once feared might finish her.
Instead, it built her.
And the rest of the tour has finally realised: she’s not returning anymore. She’s arrived.