Amanda Anisimova Says Women Playing Five Sets at Grand Slams ‘Would Be a Shock’ to Her

Amanda Anisimova is gearing up for the US Open singles, which kicks off on August 30. The American ace finished as the runner-up in last year’s US Open, losing to World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Ahead of the singles, Anisimova participated in the US Open mixed doubles, where she played alongside compatriot Learner Tien. They lost in the opening round to fellow Americans Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro.

Anisimova has yet to reach a final since winning the 2025 China Open. In Grand Slams this season, she has made just one quarterfinal, at the Australian Open, losing in the third round of both the French Open and Wimbledon.

There has been a lot of discussion about women potentially playing the best-of-five-set matches in Majors. The WTA players have given mixed reactions to the proposal. Anisimova is of the opinion that women should continue playing the best-of-three format.

In my opinion – I know that there’s been a lot of controversy about it – but I don’t see a reason to change it now since we’ve always had it the way it is. It would be kind of a shock to us because then we would have to adjust a lot of our training, and it would just completely get in the way of how we normally do recovery or training. So we would have to change a lot of things, and I feel like that’s not very necessary.

Amanda Anisimova told Tennishead

The last time women played best-of-five-set matches was in 1998. In the championship clash of the WTA Finals that year, Martina Hingis defeated Lindsay Davenport 7–5, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2.

And you can watch a tough three-set match – I had a lot of them last year at the US Open that were quite long matches – and they were very entertaining. So for me, I feel like it should stay the same, but that’s just my opinion.

Amanda Anisimova added

Anisimova is a two-time finalist at Grand Slams. Last year, before losing to Sabalenka in the US Open final, she suffered an embarrassing 6-0, 6-0 defeat at the hands of six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon.

She has so far lifted two Big Titles, both last year. She beat Jelena Ostapenko in Doha and Linda Noskova in Beijing.

Amanda Anisimova reflects on her mental health break

Back in 2023, Amanda Anisimova took a mental health break and returned to action at the start of the 2024 season. Since her return, she has played six finals, five of which were high-profile tournaments. During that aforementioned interview with Tennishead, Anisimova reflected on her break, stating what she learned while staying on the sidelines.

I think my break gave me a lot of insight into what I could do better when I returned, and everything that I knew that I needed to improve and kind of strengthen in terms of areas like recovery, and nutrition, and just overall being a better athlete.

This year, however, Anisimova has reached just one semifinal (Dubai Open). Before entering New York, she played the Cincinnati Open, where her run was ended by eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals.

I felt like I was very burnt out. Definitely needed the break that I took. But while I was taking it, I knew that I really wanted to step back and achieve the dreams that I still haven’t gotten to achieve, like winning a Grand Slam and different achievements in tennis.

Amanda Anisimova added

This US Open will be crucial in terms of ranking. Aryna Sabalenka will lose her No.1 position to Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, or Pegula if she fails in her title defense.

Also read: Elena Rybakina Provides Injury Update Ahead of US Open: “I Don’t Want to Rush”