Battling Back from Bruising Bagels

In a U.S. Open fairytale for the ages, Amanda Anisimova avenged her 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final.

NEW YORK — Courtney Nguyen has a line she’s used a few different times which strikes a chord with me every time I’m covering a tennis tournament, particularly the majors:

“I love tennis. Every day is the greatest day of someone’s life.”

Sometimes a “greatest day” is obvious, especially at a big tournament: 435th-ranked Leandro Riedi making the U.S. Open fourth round and earning $400,000, almost doubling his previous career total of $644,653, would certainly qualify; Indonesia’s Barty-based Janice Tjen upsetting a seed in her major debut would, too.

It might’ve seemed like there couldn’t be any such “greatest day” moments at the quarterfinal stage of this U.S. Open. After all, all the winners who advanced to the semifinals had all reached a major semifinal before; for the second straight major, there were no first-time major semifinalists on the men’s or women’s side.

First-time major semifinalists 2014-2025. (Charts by Bounces)

On the women’s side, all eight of the U.S. Open quarterfinalists had previously reached a major final, even.

But because of what happened to the most recent first-time major finalist in that big final seven weeks ago at Wimbledon, a quarterfinal win on Wednesday in New York was the happiest moment of her career.

Amanda Anisimova had to swallow a double bagel on the most hallowed stage of tennis; two months later, after avenging that loss to Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final, she beamed with a brightness far more luminous than I’ve ever seen her.

“Today is definitely the most meaningful victory I’ve had in my life,” Anisimova said.

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