Two nights ago, I had a dream that I was in the finals of the US Open. Oddly enough, my opponent was 21 year old American Ethan Quinn. I got triple bageled: 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. And in the dream, I was frozen. Because 23,771 people endured the biggest public failure of my life. Feeling the weight of every single one of them, I wanted to crawl into a hole.

Then I woke up and immediately kissed my boys 12s Winter Nats back-draw trophy thought of this WTA player:

Amanda Anisimova.

Because she didn't dream it. She lived it.

If you remember, Anisimova got double bageled by Swiatek in the Super Bowl of our sport, the Wimbledon final — just 7 months ago. On Centre Court. Broadcasted to 4.1 million Brits, 1.3 million Americans, and close to 4 million Poles.

That's the kind of failure that follows you. Follows you in countless interviews. In your personal life, where friends/family don’t know whether to say “nice tournament”, “tough luck”, or nothing at all. And plastered all over your own social media feeds.

Oof that’s heavy.

The Wimbledon final was painful. But how she bounced back is the part I’m full-blown obsessed about.

Just six weeks later, Amanda Anisimova was in the finals of the US Open.

The other Super Bowl of our sport!!

Six weeks. Not two years later, when enough time had passed for her and the world to have sufficiently moved on. Six weeks — during which she had to sit through hella interviews asking her how she felt about the loss, what girl-dinner she needed to recover (butter noodles no doubt), and every other variation of "so, how are you handling the most public failure of your life?"

Just typing that question makes me feel shitty. Having your worst moment brought up constantly — without you ever wanting it to or asking for it — is terribly draining. In a team sport, you share that weight. You've got teammates and a coaching staff absorbing part of the spotlight. In tennis, it's just you.

In any case, I’m guessing the US Open final was the most nervous she had every been for a tennis match. What if it happens again must have crossed her mind at least once. But even with those nerves, she played a damn good match against Sabalenka. And that is mighty mental toughness.

The back half of 2025 and into early 2026, Anisimova has been on a real run. She beat Madison Keys, Elena Rybakina, and Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals. She just made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

These are the results of someone who absorbed the worst thing that can happen to a tennis player on the biggest stage — and came back stronger.

Anisimova's story says something important about what it means to be a professional tennis player — and what it takes to survive the mental side of the sport at the highest level.

She's 24. She went through the most public failure in tennis in recent memory. And the timeline between Wimbledon and the US Open was so short that we almost glossed over how spectacular her comeback truly was/is.

Life on tour moves fast. The next tournament is always a week away. The world doesn't give you time to process. And Anisimova didn't just survive that — she shrugged it off and said, I’m stronger because of this.

One of the rarest feats in men’s tennis: winning a Grand Slam title in both singles and doubles during the Open Era. Which ATP player pulled it off?

A. John McEnroe

B. Yevgeny Kafelnikov

C. Roger Federer

D. Ivan Lendl

Find out at the bottom!

Courtesy of the always-hilarious Daniil Medvedev:

Some of the best tennis content I found on the internet this week…

📹 A great breakdown of what Carlos has changed in his serve motion and how it helps him, by (of course) the analytical aussie Joel Myers

💨 Why tennis needs to have more variety of court speeds, and what that would do for both the players and fans, from the suave philosopher himself, Roger Federer

👁 One of my favorite past times? Binging court-level points on YouTube. It’s unbelievably good for getting a sense of the speed, height and width the pros play at

B. Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Kafelnikov famously won both singles and doubles at the 1996 Roland Garros!