Amanda Anisimova

Amanda Anisimova was a finished junior before she was a tour name — ranked as high as No. 2 in the world as a junior, she won the 2017 US Open girls' singles title, beating a young Coco Gauff in the final without dropping a set. Born in Freehold Township, New Jersey to Russian émigré parents who worked in finance, she moved to Florida as a toddler and turned pro in 2016. Her breakthrough came as a 17-year-old in 2019, reaching the French Open semifinals, where she beat defending champion and world No. 3 Simona Halep. Her father and longtime coach died suddenly that fall, and the momentum stalled.

The game is built on flat, early-struck power off both wings — she takes the ball on the rise and redirects pace as well as anyone on tour, with a backhand that's among the cleanest in the women's game. The downside is the variance: when the timing slips, the unforced-error count climbs fast, and the serve can swing from weapon to liability inside a single match.

The defining chapter is the comeback. She took a hiatus from the tour in May 2023 until January 2024 to focus on her mental health, and a year before her breakthrough she was ranked 189th and lost in Wimbledon qualifying. Then came 2025: her first two WTA 1000 titles at Doha (d. Ostapenko) and Beijing (d. Noskova), and her first two Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon (l. Swiatek) and the US Open (l. Sabalenka). The Wimbledon final was a 6-0, 6-0 loss; weeks later she avenged it, beating Swiatek in the US Open quarterfinals.

She closed 2025 at a then-career-high No. 4 and, via a quirk of the 2026 calendar, opened this year at No. 3, passing Gauff as the top-ranked American. At the Australian Open her run ended in the quarterfinals against sixth seed Jessica Pegula — a reminder that the title, not the final, is the next box to tick.