The athlete to watch | From quitting tennis due to her tragic death to triumphing at Wimbledon

Being an athlete capable of consistently winning throughout an entire career is something only truly privileged can achieve. It's common for a talented athlete to experience ups and downs throughout their career , often due to unmet expectations . But sometimes, tragedy can come along the way and overshadow everything. This is the case we're discussing this week.

Individual sports can be very cruel when the athlete isn't fully in shape. In team sports, a person's discomfort or bad moment can often be camouflaged within the collective, but when one faces an equal opponent, the problems become much more noticeable . And we're not just talking about not being as physically fit as one hopes, but about the blows life always throws at them .

If we talk about one of the big surprises of this Wimbledon , one name stands out clearly: Amanda Anisimova . The American has reached the final of the London tournament, where She will fight for the title against the always dangerous Iga Swiatek . The American is a player who, as a junior, always made it to these stages of tournaments... but something changed in her adulthood that, just when she was starting to take off, forced her to retire.

Her family, of Russian origin, moved to the United States in the late 1980s, where Anisimova was born. They were all passionate about tennis, a sport that Amanda soon embraced, demonstrating her excellent manners, especially supported by Konstantin, her father, who also became her first coach . Little by little, the young American made progress, establishing her name among the rising stars .

She was just a child when she became the world number 2 in juniors after winning the 2017 US Open, where she defeated a certain Coco Gauff in the final. It didn't take long for her to make the leap to the WTA circuit, where in her first year she already broke into the top 200 in the world . In her second year, she played in her first final - although she lost it, in Tokyo - and became the youngest player in the Top 100 ... and, in her third year, her breakthrough came , but also the toughest moment of her life.

Not yet 18, she won her first title in Bogotá , although her breakthrough came at Roland Garros, where she reached the semi-finals , becoming the first person born in the 21st century to make it that far in a Grand Slam. But just a few months later, just before the US Open, the police found her father dead inside their home . The blow was so severe, and Amanda Anisimova felt it in the harshest possible way.

She played for a couple of years, even winning at Melbourne II, but she was a shadow of the tennis player she was before her sad passing. So, in 2023, she announced her retirement: " I have struggled with my mental health and burnout . It has become unbearable to be in tennis tournaments. Right now my priority is my mental well-being and taking a break for some time. I have worked as hard as I can to overcome this. I will miss being out there, I appreciate all the continued support ."

But little by little, she recovered and felt the competitive urge again. She returned to the court in January 2024 , ranked below 350 in the world. It didn't take long for her to improve her WTA ranking and once again prove that she hadn't forgotten how to play tennis. Once her pain had healed, she was able to focus on the sport again, confirming that she hadn't forgotten how to play . She would lose the Toronto final in 2024, but it was the start of her comeback.

It was in January of this year that she won her third career title, in Doha . And her strong performances were immediate, as she reached the Wimbledon final after defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka . This Saturday, at 23 years old, she will fight to win the first Grand Slam of her career, in honor of her father, who taught her to play. And, as of Monday, she will be among the top ten in the world . Now, all that's left is for Anisimova to be crowned in London.