Amanda Anisimova, at just 20 years old, has already become well acquainted with the highs and lows of tennis.

This year, she’s been riding one of the highs, defeating four players ranked in the top 20 to bring her career total of top-20 victories to 10. The run started with her upset of then-No. 14 Noami Osaka at the Australian Open, where she advanced to the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Ash Barty. At the Madrid Open, she took down No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka (her second career top-10 win over the Belarusian star) and No. 17 Victoria Azarenka.

Then on Monday, Anisimova again ousted Osaka from a Grand Slam in the first round of the French Open. The win was not technically an upset since Anisimova is currently ranked 10 spots higher than No. 38 Osaka, but it garnered national attention nonetheless.

“It’s always enjoyable to accept the challenge, even when it’s a tough match, and push yourself and see how far you can go,” Anisimova said after the win. “I enjoy these matches, even though they’re very tough … especially when you get to win them.”

Anisimova’s breakout moment came in 2019 when she was just 17. At the French Open, the New Jersey native stunned defending champion Simona Halep 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semifinals. She called her performance the “best tennis of my life.”

“I don’t know how, and I don’t know how I did it, but it just happened,” she said at the time. “I mean, it’s crazy. I really can’t believe the result today. And getting the opportunity to play against Simona, that’s amazing, but how it ended is even crazier to me.”

What an upset! 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova knocked off defending women's champ Simona Halep for a spot in the semifinals at Roland Garros. pic.twitter.com/FOxvagrGvW

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) June 6, 2019

That same year, she won her first WTA title at the Copa Colsanitas and earned a career-high No. 21 world ranking.

Since then, however, Anisimova has had to fight to maintain her form and rank.

“At the time, I didn’t even really realize it,” Anisimova said in an interview with WTA in 2021. “It just happened, and I was really young. It’s just kind of grown on me over the last couple of years.

“It wasn’t probably as crazy as everyone thought it was to me. I thought it was kind of normal, because it just happened over the course of two weeks. Getting the confidence over the next couple of years kind of went with that achievement.”

At the height of Anisimova’s rise in tennis, tragedy struck. Her father and longtime coach, Konstantin, died of a heart attack in August 2019 at the age of 52. She withdrew from the U.S. Open that year and returned to competition briefly in September before cutting her season short.

“The only thing that has helped me is just playing tennis and being on the court,” she told the New York Times in January 2020. “That’s what makes me happy, and I know it would make him happy, so that’s the way it is.”

Anisimova went 11-9 in 2020, dealing with multiple injuries as she tried to rediscover her form from the year prior. She had some success in 2021 — including a quarterfinal appearance at the Emilia-Romagna Open — but finished the year 14-15 and fell out of the top 75.

Entering this season ranked No. 78 in the world, Anisimova has looked much like her old self. In her very first tournament of 2022, the Melbourne Summer Set 2, she made her first finals appearance since 2019 and won her second career WTA title. Since then, she’s been on a tear — particularly on clay, where she is 10-3 this season — and has soared to a No. 28 ranking, just seven shy of her career high.

One of the best players on clay, Anisimova looks poised for another deep run this month at the French Open, where the women’s field continues to open up with each early-round upset. After dismantling Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-4 in the first round, she defeated Donna Vekic in the second round on Wednesday, 6-4, 6-1.

Following her win over Osaka, Anisimova called the anticipation in the lead-up to the match “difficult.”

“I was trying not to think about it too much, but going into the match, I did feel the stress and the nerves a bit because it is a very tough first round,” she said. “I’m just happy with how I was able to manage it and get through it.”

In just the first few years of her professional career, Anisimova has faced tremendous adversity. Already in 2022, it’s looking like she’s come out stronger for it on the other side, ready to realize the potential of her talents.

“I just have a lot of confidence right now with all the tournaments that I have played so far, so I’m just happy,” she said.

Emma Hruby is an Associate Editor at Just Women’s Sports.

In this week's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins examines Angel City FC's early success in the young 2025 NWSL season.

Off to an undefeated 2025 campaign, a stat only the 2024 championship-winning Orlando Pride and powerhouse Kansas City Current also boast, 2022 expansion side Angel City launched itself into the early contender conversation after missing the NWSL Playoffs entirely last season.

Watkins digs into the LA club, chatting through the team's star-studded formation, its early days, as well as its young core, highlighted by star sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson — all while weighing if the squad is truly ready to level up into the league's title-seeking echelon.

Angel City is beginning to see some payoff from its early developmental strategy, with Watkins pointing out that taking winger Alyssa Thompson straight out of high school is now providing major returns.

"She's got three goals in four games in 2025, she's the second youngest NWSL player to hit 10 goals and 10 assists in her career," noted Watkins. "Teams are having trouble accounting for her despite knowing that she is their offensive focal point at this moment."

That said, even with Thompson's prowess, Watkins does expect the club's hot start to cool, though she does predict a 2025 NWSL Playoff berth for the LA team.

"They are getting through on moments of brilliance, on chemistry and mental fortitude," noted Watkins. "It's a long season, and those kinds of things can start to slip as you get tired and other teams get used to the way that you play."

About 'The Late Sub' with Claire Watkins

The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes on the USWNT, NWSL, and all things women's soccer. Special guest appearances featuring the biggest names in women’s sports make TLS a must-listen for every soccer fan.

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The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) hired former MLB executive Kim Ng as its first-ever commissioner on Wednesday, tapping into Ng’s 21 years of top-level experience ahead of the league’s inaugural 2025 season.

After becoming the youngest assistant general manager in baseball history for the New York Yankees in 1998, Ng inked another line into the record books as the first woman GM in any major US men’s sports league in November 2020, when she took over the front office for MLB’s Miami Marlins.

Her three-season tenure in Miami culminated in a 2023 playoff appearance — the Marlins' first in 20 years.

Ng's pivot to softball is a homecoming for the trailblazing 56-year-old exec, who played NCAA softball before breaking down MLB barriers.

"I think after 30-plus years in the business, I also owe it to myself to do some things that I hadn't necessarily had the opportunity to do in the past," Ng told The Athletic about her decision to join AUSL. "And this is, for me, it's a passion."

Prior to her commissioner appointment, Ng served as a senior advisor for AUSL, helping to develop the league into existence from a landscape full of growing parity at the college level, yet few viable pro opportunities.

"Knowing what an established, mature system of governance looks like, I think will be really helpful in establishing this league," Ng added.

AUSL takes the field with 2025 tour

Launching on June 7th — immediately following the 2025 NCAA Women's College World Series — each of the AUSL's four inaugural teams will play 24 games across a seven-week season.

The league's 2025 debut will function as a tour, with regular-season games played across eight different cities before two additional locations are added for the first-ever AUSL All-Star Cup in August.

Each city is auditioning to become one of six permanent markets for the league, which will transition to a traditional location-based set-up in 2026.

The PWHL dropped its 2025 Draft details on Tuesday, with the league’s third-annual entry draft set to take over Ottawa, Canada — home of the Charge — on June 24th.

Eligible NCAA standouts and other pro hockey prospects have until May 8th to declare for selection, following the PWHL’s May 3rd regular-season finale.

Notably, the second-year league follows the Gold Plan when it comes to determining draft order. Under this system, teams eliminated from the playoffs have an incentive to continue hunting wins, as franchises who amass more points post-elimination secure higher draft picks.

The New York Sirens and 2024 champions Minnesota Frost currently sit below the postseason cutoff line, meaning both teams could snag the most draft capital when the league returns from international break later this month.

NCAA stars likely to top 2025 PWHL Draft selections

Last year, the New York Sirens selected Princeton star Sarah Fillier as the overall No. 1 pick, with the rookie forward having an immediate impact in her debut pro season.

Fillier currently ranks second in individual points scored on the 2024/25 PWHL stat sheet, trailing only US hockey legend and Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight.

As for who will join Fillier and Minnesota Frost forward Taylor Heise — the inaugural 2023 PWHL Draft No. 1 pick — atop this year's draft, two NCAA standouts are likely contenders.

Should she declare, University of Minnesota forward Abbey Murphy is the projected 2025 No. 1 pick.

However, Murphy could return to the Golden Gophers for a final NCAA season following her international duty with the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship semifinals-bound Team USA.

Should Murphy defer her pro debut, 2024/25 NCAA MVP Casey O'Brien is the likely top selectee, having already declared for the draft.

The Wisconsin captain wrapped up her NCAA campaign as this season's leading scorer, claiming 88 points on 26 goals and 62 assists en route to this year’s national championship — the third NCAA title of her college career.

Eight top squads are edging closer to Saturday’s 2025 NCAA gymnastics championships team trophy, with the pivotal semifinal round kicking off on Thursday afternoon.

No. 2-seed Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 7 Missouri, and No. 11 Alabama will hit the mat first, before 2024 winners and the 2025 bracket's No. 1-seed LSU goes to work to defend their title against No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 8 Michigan State.

The top two teams from each of Thursday's semifinals will advance to compete for the national title on Saturday.

Semifinal meets will crown individual NCAA champions

First, however, five individual NCAA trophies will be bestowed on Thursday night, as the semifinal meets will determine the 2025 all-around and event champions.

In addition to the athletes on the eight qualifying teams, four all-around competitors and 16 event specialists will join the race for solo NCAA hardware, with each earning an invite as the top performer in their respective category at one of the sport's four Regional tournaments.

These individual contenders will follow a qualified team's rotation schedule during their semifinal meet.

Leading the all-around pack is LSU star and 2024 individual champ Haleigh Bryant, though she'll face stiff competition in her bid for a back-to-back championship.

Standing in Bryant's path are Oregon State's Jade Carey, Arkansas's Joscelyn Roberson, Denver's Madison Ulrich, and Washington's Mary McDonough, alongside qualified team athletes like UCLA's Jordan Chiles — Carey’s 2024 Olympics teammate.

Bryant will also defend her shared 2024 vault title, though her co-champion on that event, Cal's Mya Lauzon, will instead compete for beam and floor hardware this week.

All other 2024 event winners are also back, with LSU's Konnor McClain and Florida's Leanne Wong seeking to repeat on beam and floor, respectively. Wong will also hunt another trophy on bars, alongside last year's co-champ, Utah's Grace McCallum.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA Gymnastics Championships

The first 2025 NCAA gymnastics semifinal starts at 4:30 PM ET on Thursday, followed by the second semi at 9 PM ET.

Live coverage of both semifinal meets will air on ESPN2.