Before the 2025 US Open kicked off, most of the conversations about American Amanda Anisimova started with a reference to bagels—as in, the two 6-0 sets handed to her by Wimbledon champ Iga Swiatek earlier this summer.
But Anisimova flipped that script by beating Swiatek at their next meeting, in the Flushing quarterfinals. Next, Anisimova will take on No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka. Before that happens, here are six bagel-free facts about the No. 8 seed.
She has the best record against Sabalenka among active players.
The American owns their head to head, 6-3. Drilling down a bit, she holds the lead against her in Grand Slam matches (3-2) and hard-court matches (2-1), as well.
Anisimova has the fastest average backhand speed at this US Open compared to any other player, man or woman.
It was reported during the broadcast of her semifinal match against Naomi Osaka that up until that point in the tournament, Anisimova’s average backhand was clocking in at 77 miles per hour—versus Sinner’s at 76 miles per hour.
She was the first person born in the 21st century to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
At the age of 17, Anisimova advanced to the 2019 Roland Garros semifinals, where she lost to Ash Barty.
The American was 14 years old when she won her first US Open match.
Anisimova won her first qualifying match to move on to qualifying Round 2 at the 2016 US Open. She turned pro shortly after that.
She and Bruce Springsteen share the same hometown.
Will The Boss come to cheer on his fellow Freehold, New Jersey native at Saturday’s final? We can only hope, but it seems unlikely given his last sighting here was in 1988.
Anisimova gets pumped up listening to music by Lil Wayne.
Olympics.com reported that preference, although there was no mention of which tracks she favors. (For what it’s worth, we’d pick the 2009 mixtape “No Ceilings” for her, based on its title alone.)
