Anisimova faces battle with Sabalenka and recent demons at US Open final | US Open Tennis 2025

AManda Anisimoa had trouble maintaining his composure in the days preceding the last Grand Chelem tournament of the year. While the American prepared for her first round match, her high expectations have become a significant source of stress. With hindsight, it was nothing out of the ordinary. “I think most players put a lot of pressure on themselves and the few days before the tournament are quite stressful, just anticipation,” she said after reaching the third round. “I think it was natural for me to feel this.”

However, the circumstances surrounding Anisimova on the eve of the United States Open made its unique situation. The last time she appeared in a large home, Anisimova was beaten 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final by Iga Swiatek. Wimbledon had represented a long -awaited breakthrough after years of unwarmed promises and, in most cases, this would have meant only a positive step in his career in his career, but at the end of his excruciating day in the central court, it was difficult not to wonder if such a humiliating moment could completely derail his progress.

For this reason, the treatment with anisimova of these challenges was nothing less than remarkable. During the next Grand Chelem tournament, her first possible opportunity, the 24 -year -old woman again gave herself another chance to participate in a title of Grand Colem while she faces Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s n ° 1 and the reigning champion, on a soil at home in the American open final on Saturday.

Anisimoa’s talent has never been in doubt. She is one of the cleanest and most destructive ball attackers of the tour, with a timing and an unrivaled technique which allows her to take the ball so early, to change the directions at will and to generate a huge rhythm of the two features on the ground, in particular her extraordinary extraordinary with two hands.

These skills were obvious in his last games, which were an exhibition in the event of a devastating offensive hunting lap. In her victory over Swiatek, she constantly stole the time of offensive weapons of the post. Despite her first nerves one day later against Naomi Osaka, it was remarkable to see how she spilled the match, dominating another of the biggest players in the game from the baseline. Even when they approached 1 a.m. after almost three hours on the field, her hands remained stable during the decisive moments at the end and she never stopped attacking.

It took spectacular mental improvements to Anisimova to reach this point. Her eight-month mental health break in 2023 clearly played an important role in her growth, but in general, she has always had trouble maintaining her composure, her nerve and her self-confidence in the heat of the battle. While some players were born from the competitors, the Anisimova path to gain the insurance necessary to compete with the best players in the world was long and difficult. She spoke of kissing therapy, to maintain a positive perspective at all costs and to confide in her loved ones. Although she stressed the importance of passing from Wimbledon, she does not run away. Sometimes humor helps. At night before her victory over Swiatk, she decided to look at the strong points of Wimbledon’s defeat for the first time to make sure she did not make the same mistakes twice. What did she learn? “That I was slow as hell,” she said, laughing.

Although Anisimova has already defeated two of the most accomplished players in the game, the path does not become easier. At the beginning of a day of breath in the female semi-final, Sabalenka closed Jessica Pegula in another high quality match. The American played as well as she could sometimes, but Sabalenka was courageous in all decisive moments, where she completely mastered Pegula.

In the process, the Belarus maintained its sublime record of the Grand Slam. Major Treo-Championne, she has now reached the last six Grand Chelem finals of the hard field and four of the last five major finals in the general classification. In these finals, however, she collapsed several times under pressure, becoming overwhelmed by panic and fear. There will be even more pressure on his shoulders on Saturday, a match that represents his last chance to make sure that his considerable efforts are actually a Grand Colem victory this year.

There are players who just seem to be magnetically attracted to each other in tournament prints. This will mark a 10th meeting between Sabalenka and Anisimova, and it was in fact a favorable match for the American, which holds a record of 6-3 face to face. The last time they played, less than two months ago, Anisimova won the greatest victory of his career at the time in the semi-final of Wimbledon. This time, the issues are even higher for the two players because they each try to ban their recent demons forever.