Amanda Anisimova: Serena Williams is 'a huge inspiration to me'
USA’s Amanda Anisimova booked her place in the third round of the French Open main draw by defeating World No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka in straight 6-4 6-2 sets. While waiting for the definition of her next opponent, who turned out to be Irina Begu over Karolina Muchova, the 17-year-old reflected on her seasonal achievements so far, “I have grown up playing on clay, so I really like it. But it was kind of a surprise when I won that title [Bogota] because it was my first title, and to win it on clay after not playing for about two years on clay was kind of surprising to me, but it was definitely a huge confidence booster.”
Anisimova, who’s playing her second Roland Garros--the first was in 2017, she couldn’t make it past her first match against Kurumi Nara--is achieving impressive results for her young age. When asked to compare her evolution here to her feat of reaching the round-of-16 at this year’s Australian Open, the American answered, “I mean, it's a new slam. I never passed a round at the French Open, so obviously it's super special. It feels great.
I'm really happy with my performance today. You know, I was getting ready to play Aryna because I knew it was going to be a tough battle today, which it was. I'm just really happy that I got through this round.
When I play her, I really have to play at my top level and be really focused and fight for each point. So it's always about the fighting and trying to stay focused throughout the whole entire match.
I always take it one match at a time. I'm just looking forward to my next match. I'm going to prepare for it a lot tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes.”
Anisimova also talked about Serena Williams, whom she looks up to as an example, “She's done so much for the sport. She's a huge inspiration to me. I really look up to her.
That's just great to be achieving stuff similar to her [smiling]. [...] When I had a tough loss at Miami Open, it was a really long match and I was super upset in the locker room, Serena actually came up to me and we shared a little bit of a chat. That was really nice of her, and I'll remember it forever.”
The American is presently ranked Wolrd No. 51 in the WTA singles ranking.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2YW42MF
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