"I was like, I don’t know if this is AI or something" - From ball girl to main attraction: Amanda Anisimova's rise through tennis pictured at Miami Open

As a young kid, Amanda Anisimova had aspirations of being a ball girl at the Miami Open. Now, she is signing autographs for fans with a giant mural of her looking on in the background. This sums up the progress she has made in recent years with her excited and raring to go for her home event.

The tournament was somewhere Anisimova would look forward to every year, travelling down with her family to watch proceedings while being able to meet some of her idols in the process. “I would go to the Crandon Park site a lot as a kid, and I absolutely loved it,’’ Anisimova said in her media session at Hard Rock Stadium. “It was one of my favorite times of the year to go to the Miami Open."

She would take a whole bunch of memories from those times, making it a special place for her. She also has memorabilia from that period, decorated by tennis players. “So, I’d get their autographs. I loved getting them on a hat and then I would wear the hat all year.”

Competing at this level was a fleeting and even unrealistic dream at the time for a hopeful Anisimova. She put the work in and, after numerous ups and downs, is now recognised as one of the best tennis players in the world.

“I was a fan, and obviously, I played a lot and I competed, but the dream is just so far [from] reality, and I was just a kid as well,’’ she commented. “Maybe some kids dream that someday they’ll be there, but I think that it just didn’t seem realistic to me as a child. I was just very much in the present and enjoying myself in what I was doing and just having fun.”

A more realistic ambition was becoming a ball girl, but this got shelved as she looked to save energy for her junior career. “There was a lot of [ball kid] training that went into it,’’ she said. “And I passed because of that reason. I was already training so much at practice so when I’m off, I don’t really feel like training.”

A full circle moment for Anisimova came when she was signing autographs for ball kids when she gazed at a giant mural, completely starstruck at the sight of her on the wall. Something that she could not digest at first. “I think I saw it quickly, and I was like, I don’t know if this is AI or something,’’ she stated. “Then I saw a fan posted it [standing] in front of it, and then my agent also sent it to me, and it was on site."

Mural artist Johann Aven posted his work on Instagram, writing about how much work went into it. "90 spray cans. 58 colors. 6 days of work. 60 hours painting." The two-time Grand Slam champion is a worthy choice, even if she does not think she is. “I had no idea, but they chose me, which is like, ‘Wow,’ that’s crazy and I’m very honoured. It’s so, so cool. And yeah, I was not expecting that at all. It was a complete surprise. So, yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to go and see it one of these days in person.”

The sentimental factor will wear off a tad when stepping onto the court. Anisimova will have ambitions to lift this title and take home a third WTA 1000 trophy. She begins with a tie against Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round, someone she has not played since 2021.

This is the competition where she made her WTA main draw debut, losing in the first round to Taylor Townsend in three sets. “I feel really at home every time I play at the Miami Open. It’s very special to me, and I always have a lot of family and friends that come out and support me,’’ the American said. “I feel like I started my pro career here, so a lot of special memories and lots of experiences.”

She comes off the back of losing to Victoria Mboko in the last-16 of Indian Wells. She has had some deep runs in the Australian Open and Dubai Duty Free Championships, losing out to Jessica Pegula respectively in the quarterfinal Down Under and semi-final in the Middle East.

While maybe not at her absolute best, she proved to be a worthy opponent to anyone who dares to challenge her, as she looks for a deep run in Florida. “I’m going into this tournament feeling good," Anisimova explained. “I feel like I’ve had quite a few matches this year already and have been playing good tennis. So, I’m just happy to be here. I feel good. I feel healthy, so I’m just looking forward to getting started, and hopefully, I can keep that momentum going.”

Her best run at the Miami Open came last year, defeating an inform Mirra Andreeva, who had just won the titles in Dubai and Indian Wells. Her campaign would soon come to an end at the hands of Emma Raducanu. The only WTA 1000 tournament with a worse win percentage is the Madrid Open, marking it not one of her most profitable competitions.