Naomi Osaka, Amanda Anisimova make U.S. Open semifinals : NPR

Amanda Anisimoa of the United States, on the left, and Naomi Osaka of Japan will compete in the semi-finals of the United States in New York on Thursday evening. Both were opened on their mental health difficulties.

Elsa / Getty Images; Robert Prange / Getty images

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Elsa / Getty Images; Robert Prange / Getty images

Two return stories collided on the tennis court Thursday evening when the American Amanda Anisimova and Naomi Osaka from Japan – who were also raised in the United States – are played in the American semi -finals.

Anisimova and Osaka both work in the ranking after the return of mental health breaks in recent years. Everyone has fought their own set of challenges – as well as some of the best classified players in the world – to go to the penultimate tour of the last Grand Chelem tournament of the year.

The two will compete at the Arthur Ashe stadium just after 8 pm HE Thursday, with a lot on the line: the winner obtains a place in the final on Saturday.

“It’s exactly a film,” said Jackie Johnston, creator of sports content for women.

Osaka, 27, is a quadruple Grand Chelem champion who became the first Asian player to be classified in the world in simple female. She took a break in sport in 2021, citing her difficulties against anxiety and depression, and was a defender of metal health since.

Osaka took prolonged maternity leave to give birth to her daughter in 2023 and returned to competition at the beginning of 2024 not classified. Due to the way in which tennis tournaments are sown, unopenable players face a difficult battle, facing the best players at the start of the round.

“This is the most difficult thing to do, to recover your note in tennis,” says Johnston. “Because each tournament you actively play to the players you usually play in the semi-finals in the first round, then you lose and then [your ranking is] Stay the same. “”

Osaka, who is currently ranked 24th, beat Karolina Muchova No. 11 on Wednesday to reach the American semi-finals for the first time since 2020 (she won the title that year, as she did in 2018). Thursday will be his 5th semi-final of the Grand Chelem, and his first since his victory for Australian Open in 2021. It was also his first since he became a mother.

“It means so much, I’m actually surprised that I don’t cry,” said Osaka in court after Wednesday’s victory. “There was so much hard work that you have not seen, but I’m really grateful to my team and I’m just happy to be healthy.”

Naomi Osaka, on the left, of Japan, congratulates Amanda Anisimova in the United States after their third round match at the Australian tennis championships open in Melbourne, Australia, in 2022.

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Simon Baker / AP

Anisimova, 24, also had a remarkable trip to the semi-finals. On Wednesday, she beat n ° 2 IGA świątek-an amazing upheaval, and quick revenge less than two months after świątek beat her 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final.

“It was such a dream, and to come back from Wimbledon, like, it’s really special for me,” said Anisimova afterwards. “I feel like I have worked very hard to try to turn around, and I mean, today, everything for me, like, I can do it.”

It will be the first American open semi-final of Anisimova and the third semi-final of the Grand Chelem. Her first was the 2019 France Open, when the 17 -year -old man became the youngest woman to advance so far in major since 2006. But after several injuries and the sudden death of her father, she announced an indefinite sports leave in 2023, citing professional exhaustion and mental health struggles.

Anisimova spent eight months, spending time with relatives and rediscovering creative hobbies. She returned to competitive tennis at the beginning of 2024 and has since made her way, warding off in the Top 20 after winning her first WTA 1000 title at the Qatar Open in February. It is currently ranked 9th.

“If you wrote a film, you would have it [Anisimova] lose [Świątek] In the Wimbledon final so that she can return and win in the US Open quarter -final, her home tournament, then win her, “said Johnston.” But if I made a film on [Osaka]I would also have won him all here … You can’t have both films, but it would be great to watch the two. “”

Anisimova and Osaka played twice before, in the French and Australian openings of 2022. Anisimova won twice. But they were respectively matches in the first and third round, and Osaka never lost a Grand Chelem tournament after reaching the semi-finals.

No matter who goes to the final, Johnston says that the fact that the two players arrived on stage is a victory, both for their careers and for the conversation on mental health in sport.

Johnston notes that just as everyone is unable to return from a break, not all athletes have the same early success and the same financial means to move away from their sport in the first place, as did Anisimova and Osaka. And, she said, ideally, they would not have to do so.

“I hope that the deep cause is tackled and that the symptom is not standardized,” said Johnston. “I would like there to be more mental health support for players while they play so that they do not feel the need to take a break … because players should not happen to the point where they constantly need to move away completely from a sport to feel good about it.”

In an interview Complex Earlier this month, Osaka said the prioritization of her mental health has changed the way she is preparing for tournaments. The wider conversation around this has also changed certain aspects of the tournaments themselves, such as adding quiet pieces for players to the US Open from 2021.

Osaka also offered advice to young athletes: “You don’t have to consider personal care as weakness.”