John Farley Spotlight WTA: Amanda Anisimova - Showcasing Young Climbers of 2018

It happens sometimes you put on a match and you see a player for the first time and immediately you sense something special. Maybe it's from a strut, that signature swagger of an athlete exuding power and confidence or just from some cogent intangibles that haven't yet crystalized into a concept you can clearly articulate. But you know she's got it. I saw it in Garbine Muguruza even before she beat Serena at the French Open in 2014. I saw it in Aryna Sabalenka before both she and her Belarus compatriot Aliaksandra Sasnovich took out Sloane Stephens, at the time the reigning US Open winner, in the 2017 Fed Cup Final, almost upsetting the USA. Those are the two who most strongly come to mind. Now there is another who I feel has got it - Amanda Anisimova.

I don't remember when I first saw her, but I do remember I had that feeling about this 2018 climber who was only 16 at the time. Let's throw the spotlight on some major milestones and highlights in her rise:

• She was ranked 761 at end of 2016, but climbed quickly to end 2017 at 192.
• The first American finalist at the 2016 French Open Juniors in 14 years, where she was the #2 seed.
• As a junior she was ranked as high as #2 in the world.
• In her Grand Slam debut into a main draw, she lost in the first round of the 2017 French Open, but became the youngest player to participate in the main draw since 2005.
• Capped her juniors career by winning the Grand Slam title at the 2017 US Open, not dropping a set.
• A member of the US team that won the 2017 Junior Fed Cup.
• At the 2018 Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open, she became the youngest player to reach the 4th round since 2005, where she defeated Pauline Parmentier for her first WTA match win before upsetting #23 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and then #9 Petra Kvitová who was on a 14-match win streak - her first victory over a top 10 player.
• On the strength of this performance, she was awarded a wild card into the Miami Open, where she won her opening match against Wang Qiang despite injuring her foot in the third set. She was forced to withdraw from the tournament where she was scheduled to play Garbine Muguruza in the second round. The foot injury kept her out of action for four months.
• Returning from injury in San Jose, she beat Wang Qiang again in the first round before losing to an in-form Mihaela Buzarnescu.
• During the 2018 US Open Series in Cincinnati, she took out Timea Babos and Petra Martic before falling to Elina Svitolina who was ranked #7 at the time.
• In the Hana-Cupid Japan Women's Open (where did they get that name?) in Hiroshima, she became only the 2nd qualifier to reach the final of a WTA tournament in 2018.(the other was Aliaksandra Sasnovich in Brisbane). She lost to Su-Wei Hsieh in the final, but did not drop a set through the main draw getting there.

She will end the year 2018 #98 in the world, up 84 points from her 2017 year-end ranking of 192.

Now, still only at 17 years of age, under the WTA eligibility rules, she may be limited to the number of tournaments she can play in 2019, but no doubt she'll make the most of them. From both the forehand and backhand sides, she can produce blistering baseline shots that catch you by surprise with their accuracy and pace. With an imperturbable match demeanor that belies her mere 17 years, she carries onto court that charming, youthful obliviousness to the possibility of defeat. All that makes her dangerous, and if they haven't done so already, the rest of the field should take note.



Anyway, that's the way I see it.


Here are some highlights from Amanda Anisimova's victory over Petra Kvitová at Indian Wells 2018: