“It’s always about the fighting”: Why Amanda Anisimova has Aryna Sabalenka’s number

WATCH: Amanda Anisimova defeats Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of the 2022 Madrid Open.

“When I play her, I really have to play at my top level, and be really focused and fight for each point,” Amanda Anisimova once said when she was asked why she matches up so well with Aryna Sabalenka. “So it’s always about the fighting and trying to stay focused throughout the whole match.”

On the surface, those words sound pretty generic. “Fighting” and “staying focused”: Isn’t that what every player tries to do against every opponent?

What Anisimova seems to mean is that against Sabalenka, she doesn’t have time to do anything else. Sabalenka is one of the WTA’s most powerful athletes, and a player who swings for the fences and puts you under constant pressure. If you want to stay alive in rallies with her, you have no choice other than to fight back with whatever you have—fortunately for Anisimova, she has a lot.

Against Sabalenka, she doesn’t have time to get nervous, she doesn't have time to overthink her tactics, she doesn’t have time to ponder how to construct points, she doesn’t have time to play it safe, she doesn’t have time to look ahead to the finish line and blow a lead. The last thing on that list is something Anisimova knows all about when she faces other opponents.

This seems to allow Anisimova the chance to get out of her own way, and unlock her immense ball-striking potential to an extent that she can’t against less-aggressive opponents. On Thursday, the 33rd-ranked American ran her record against the No. 4-ranked Belarusian to 4-0 with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win in their first-round match in Madrid.

It didn’t matter that Sabalenka was the defending champion at this Masters 1000 event. It didn’t matter that she had just reached a final in Stuttgart on Sunday, and appeared to be rounding into form for the first time in 2022. She still couldn’t beat Anisimova. Is there another head-to-head in tennis that’s so one-sided in favor of the (significantly) lower-ranked player?

Anisimova won just three more points than Sabalenka over the course of the match, but she was the cleaner and more proactive ball-striker. She broke serve in the first game, and earned 12 break points in total. She won more than half of the points on Sabalenka’s second serve, and she read her first serve well, too, pinning Sabalenka at the baseline with her deep backhand returns. She anticipated the direction of Sabalenka’s shots and punished any ball that was left hanging in the air.

By the end of the first set, Sabalenka had had enough. At 5-2, Anisimova took one of Sabalenka’s heavy forehands and hit an even better and more penetrating forehand back. Sabalenka couldn’t handle the pace and sailed her next shot 10 feet long. Then she raised her arms in total frustration. She’s not used to being the second-biggest hitter on a court.

Still, Sabalenka didn’t cave. She came back from 1-4 to 4-4 in the third. On other days, Anisimova might have melted down and lost those last two games. This time, at 4-4, she sent an ace down the T; hit a service winner; hit a forehand winner; and held serve with a second-serve winner. Sabalenka, by contrast, swung wildly at 4-5, and double faulted on match point. When you’re 0-3 against an opponent, even a lower-ranked opponent, it’s easy to lose your self-belief. Sabalenka looked like her only plan was to try to hit even harder than she usually does.

Anisimova obviously matches up well with Sabalenka; she likes pace, and she knows she can beat her. But her win also showed how well she can play against anyone, if she stops worrying and uses her weapons as soon as she can in a rally. She can’t pretend Sabalenka is across the net from her in every match, but she can remember why she plays so well against her. An Anisimova who doesn’t give herself a chance to do anything but fight would be a tough opponent for anyone.