Amanda Anisimova, another of those many prodigy girls who flourish from time to time in tennis and who was going to take on the world, sets the limit for Paula Badosa in this Australian Open which, says the Spaniard, can only offer a positive reading. “Yes, especially because of how I am with my injury, because I am feeling pretty good. Obviously, physically I still have a long way to go to reach my best level, but it is the way,” she says after the 7-5 and 6-4 (in 1h 28m) witnessed by the John Caine audience. Under other circumstances, the pain of goodbye would have multiplied, but not this time. She, back after half a year of doctors, physios, machines and treatment for the back injury that occurred last year in Rome, came to what she came to. “I said the first day that I wanted to play games…”. And there have been three, good food for the physique and the spirit.
It happens that in the latter the deck of her rival prevails, Anisimova also returning. “She played with two shots, she didn’t know whether to pray… And everything depended a little on her. She has done very well, perfect, and she has been right when she played. Little to say. But I have two good victories and I am playing tennis well, and in a few weeks I will be physically where I want to be; Maybe with a little more physical strength it would have helped me a little more,” she continues, convinced that if she respects that repeat offender, she will be able to contribute interesting things in the medium term. For now, good feelings and blind confidence that the effort will be more productive back in March, April especially, when that clay court tour that he is so looking forward to begins.
It has been practically seven months of hiatus, and Anisimova’s was just as long. The origin, however, is very different. The vertebra of one, the ghosts of the other. September 2022, that’s when they started messing around. Before, in 2019, the death of her father, who was a coach. “For me it has become unbearable to be in tournaments,” he said in May, when he firmly grabbed the handbrake and lifted it abruptly: stop or stop, there was no other option. “Right now my priority is my mental well-being and taking a break for a while. I have worked as hard as I can to overcome it. I’m going to miss being out there, I appreciate all the support,” she continued when she announced that she was going to stop competing, overwhelmed by the daily routine of tennis and the dictatorship of the results. She was singled out since adolescence, she did not meet expectations.
“It was good to get away from the chaotic lifestyle of a tennis player and reestablish myself as a human being. I think that break helped me regain a lot of energy and happiness; I slowed down my life, and that’s something I really needed,” she conceded in a statement collected by the WTA as soon as the new year began, having removed the disorder and recomposed the puzzle, trying to recover that balance that is so essential and so difficult in tennis. the usual tetris: body, mind, routines, calendar, breaks, trips, recovery. Feet on the ground after the fireworks. Anisimova, the latest great sensation! Anisimova, the first player born during this millennium to reach the round of 16 of a Grand Slam! She was 15 when she appeared and 17 when she was pointed out. America’s New Great Hope! And from there, little by little, towards that well from which she began to emerge in September, when she picked up the racket again to start again.
“Life is not just tennis. It’s good to come home and have other things to focus on, figure out what’s really important. I had to find myself and my personality,” says the 22-year-old American, daughter of Russians, born in New Jersey; a bomber who came to the fore in 2019 by knocking down Aryna Sabalenka and marking another of those milestones of precocity. So, flashes, spotlights, the boom. Ask the British Emma Raducanu, consumed for a while. “Many people who follow us really don’t understand what this is all about, how difficult it can be; you lose, you buy tickets, you pack your suitcase and fly back. You are exhausted and frustrated, it is a constant cycle. You isolate yourself,” she explained these days in Australia, where she, like Badosa, does not think so much about the result as about getting back on track. There is light.
“I went through something similar to what she did, so a lot of respect for her speaking out about it. Mental health is something very important,” the Catalan, who suffered depression four years ago, responds to this newspaper. “I had a hard time pulling myself away from this, but I wasn’t enjoying it. I’m glad I made the decision,” the North American closes this Friday, a cannon: the 40 winning shots that she connects decide her pulse and guide her towards the round of 16, the second week of a great one. The next test, Sabalenka, seems more than complicated: 6-0 and 6-0 for the Belarusian against Lesia Surenko. Difficult, very difficult for her. But so was stopping. And she did it.
ON THE DECLINE OF SPANISH TENNIS: “GOOD GROUNDWORK IS MISSING”
A. C. | Melbourne
With Alcaraz as the only survivor, Spanish tennis looks nostalgically towards those times when the representation in the second week was more numerous. The Murcian has been left alone in Melbourne and only he, Badosa and Alejandro Davidovich managed to cross the barrier of the second round, the lowest figure in 25 years.
“I think there is a lack of players at the back,” reasons the 26-year-old Catalan. “And it is something that saddens me quite a bit, because we have always had a lot of people. I have been inspired by Nadal, Ferrer, Verdasco, Garbiñe, Carla… And now we have an outstanding player, Carlos, and Davidovich, who has a lot of potential, but in the women’s field it is costing more.”
The tennis player from Begur considers that the fault may be in the structure. “I think there is still a lack of good grassroots work, from the federation or something like that. That would also help, because you see large federations like the French, the Italian, the British, the Australian or the American, which are bringing in players, and I think that in Spain that work could be done better,” she points out.
Badosa says that he would like to help inspire the next generations, and that one of his goals would be to win a Billie Jean King Cup. “But it is complicated,” he says. “I look back and it will be difficult to see what was before again,” she continues. “Many are at the end of their career, like Rafa or Garbiñe; Carla has already retired; Bautista… And in the end there is Alcaraz, Davidovich, me and little else.”
The Catalan believes that Nadal’s past successes and Alcaraz’s current rise distort the view, something that, she clarifies, was already happening with the Big Three [Nadal, Federer y Djokovic]. “They cover everything up a bit,” he says; but, luckily, by having Alcaraz, he is a bit like Rafa: he hides what we have behind us, that in the end there are not that many Spanish players right now.”