Amanda Anisimova is set to end her indefinite break and return to the tour in the 2024 season, according to reports.
The 22-year-old last played on the WTA tour in late April, where she lost in the first round of the Madrid Open to Arantxa Rus. It was the eighth defeat in 11 matches this season before she announced her decision to take a mental health break from tennis.
At the time, she admitted to struggling with "mental health and burnout" since the summer of 2022 and that being at tennis tournaments was "unbearable" to her body. Eventually, she arrived at the decision to stop playing for an undefined period.
It appears she has managed to sort her headspace and is ready to return to the tour in 2024, having signed up for the Hobart International, which kicks off in the second week of January, and the Australian Open. It will be a full eight months from her last outing.
Anisimova has won two WTA titles in her young career so far, most recently at the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set 2. She was touted as the next big thing in women's tennis since making the semifinal of Roland Garros in 2017 as a 17-year-old, earning a shock win over then-defending champion Simona Halep.
That hasn't materialized just yet and will start the new season ranked outside the Top 300 places. She'll cash in on her protected ranking status. Anisimova has been very active on social media in her time away from the sport, sharing regular updates of her comeback.
Mental health has become one of the jargon words in modern tennis and in recent years we've seen quite a number of cases whereby players have candidly admitted to struggling with the rigors of the tour. Some of them have found the tour's schedule very demanding.
A few weeks ago Paula Badosa shed light on this topic arguing that is not an accident that some players have taken a longer sabbatical from the game like Garbine Muguruza and there have also been instances where players have gone into early retirement like Ashleigh Barty.
Anisimova's case is one of a small number of players who have been forthright in coming out and facing such adversity, and she has received support from some of her peers.
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