Wimbledon 2025: Amanda Anisimova once quit tennis due to mental health issues and now she is in maiden semis after winning 20-point tie-breaker

American tennis player Amanda Anisimova was 22-year-old when she took an indefinite break from tennis due to mental health issues in May 2023. Before that, she had a brilliant run at Wimbledon 2022 where she reached her maiden quarter-finals before crashing out. After her break, Anisimova made a comeback to the Championship in 2024 but failed to make it to the main draw and lost in qualifying round. In Wimbledon 2025, she has entered her maiden semi-final with a straight sets win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova which included a 20-point tie-breaker as well.

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"I've really been struggling with my mental health and burnout since the summer of 2022. It's become unbearable being at tennis tournaments. At this point my priority is my mental well-being and taking a break for some time," Anisimova had said back when she took the break as shared by Wimbledon in its official Instagram handle. She turned to painting during her break and launched a campaign 'Art for Hope' and donated the funds raised by selling her paintings to mental health and social cause charities.

On Tuesday (Jul 8) in the second women's singles quarter-final, Anisimova won the first set against Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 before the second set went into the tie-breaker. The resilient American, however, saved three set points in the tie-breaker at 3-6 and went on to win it 11-9. She eventually won the match 6-1, 6(11)-6(9) to continue her dream run at the Wimbledon 2025. She will now face top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the women's singles semis on Thursday (Jul 10) who overcame a scare from German Laura Siegemud to make it to the semis. Sabalenka found it hard to get into the rhythm and lost the first set 4-6. The top seed player, however, held her ground and won the next two sets 6-2, 6-4 to make it the semis.