By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday January 14, 2024
Amanda Anisimova returned to the Grand Slam stage with an impressive takedown of 13th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova.
Photo Source: Getty
Former World No.21 Amanda Anisimova took an indefinite break from tennis last spring, prioritizing her mental health so that she may once again learn to enjoy her life – and her tennis – again.
Mission accomplished. The American took up the paintbrush and tapped into her artistic side, churning out stunning canvases that eventually would lead her to sell them off with the proceeds going to chosen mental health charities.
Interested fans can go to her art for hope page to see – and buy – her work.
Seven months after temporarily calling it quits on her tennis, Anisimova is refreshed and ready to take on the challenge of playing high stakes tennis across the globe again. Call it her other art, if you will…
Whatever you call it, it was impressive on Day 1 of the Australian Open as the 22-year-old notched her sixth Top-20 win at a major by taking down 13th-seeded Russian Liudmila 6-3, 6-4, booking her first Grand Slam win since 2022 Wimbledon.
The American said she is not stressing about results at the moment. She's just happy to enjoy the journey.
"Win or lose, I don't think it would really matter to me," Anisimova said. "If I lost, then I would just go back to training. I'm just here for the journey right now and seeing how much I can progress. I think I would take it with whatever outcome I would get. But I am happy with the wins, and I really hope that I can build on from it."
Anisimova, who reached the round of 16 in Melbourne in 2019 and 2022, battled back from 4-1 down in the second set, winning the final five games to book a round two clash with either Nadia Podoroska or Tamara Zidansek.
She says that feeling fresh and enjoying life makes all the difference.
"The most important thing is that I feel a lot more refreshed," she said. "I'm enjoying practicing. I'm enjoying every second that I'm out there. Even when I was down today, I was still just enjoying the challenge. Yeah, I'm just happy with how I feel coming back. I feel like I was very burned out while I was playing, and that really wasn't a nice feeling. Being able to just reset is really nice."
Overall, Anisimova owns 17 Top 20 victories.