AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 28, 2026

Amanda Anisimova

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/A. Anisimova

6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Obviously not the result you wanted today, but just give us your thoughts on the tournament overall and how Jess also played today.

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I think making the quarters is a good result, and Jess was playing well today. Yeah, not the outcome I would have wanted, but yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Tough day. When you do go out and, you know, it seems like you weren't quite feeling it, feeling the ball today like you do sometimes, what is your strategy? What is your move to try and either get yourself into that feeling, or is there a fallback plan?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I mean, to be consistent, right, to get the ball into the court. I was trying my best to just put the ball in the court and play higher percentage, but I literally missed every ball in the net or served into the stands.

Yeah, she was playing great tennis. She's always playing stable. You know, there was oftentimes where she was not playing her best, and I was just playing like that.

Yeah, I was doing my best trying to get the ball over the net, but every time it would just go in the net.

Q. Yesterday Coco was talking about players need a bit more privacy from the behind-the-scenes cameras. I'm just wondering your thoughts. Do you think it's a bit intrusive, and after a defeat like today, how do you feel when you are going back stage and you are conscious that they are there and trying to hide emotions perhaps?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I mean, you kind of know after a few days or four or five days that obviously you see on the internet after just you walking around. I knew that that was there, so I just kept my head down and went to the locker room.

Yeah, I don't know, there are good moments, obviously that people see, and that's fun. Then, you know, when you lose, there are probably not-so-good moments. Yeah, I think the fact that the video of Coco that was posted, you know, it's tough, because she didn't have a say in that.

But, yeah, I think this deep down into the tournament, I knew that I didn't have much privacy, so I just went to the locker room, and I knew that I was able to just be there, so...

Q. Obviously disappointing, but if you could just speak for a moment about you used the word "stable," her game. There's a steadiness and stableness to it. What do you find challenging about facing her?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, you know, she doesn't make many mistakes. So if your game is off, like today, then obviously it makes it a bit more difficult. Yeah, I feel like sometimes I was able to find myself in the match and find my way back into it somehow. Yeah, the fact that she just plays such consistent tennis, it's not easy, but then again, you know, you have to make at least two or three balls in the court.

Q. Were you surprised at all with her retrieving today, her defense?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: No, I mean, that's how I expected her to play, so it wasn't surprising. I think if anything, I was just more surprised by my own game.

Q. Was it just one of these things where you didn't feel great from the time you got out of bed or had a bad warmup, or it's just total shock that you were not feeling it once the match started?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: No, I had a great warmup, and I was feeling good. I was feeling calm for the majority of the day.

Then I was just, like, missing by a little bit every time in the first set. Just, like, super small margins. Sometimes that's just the way it is in tennis. It's really not going your way or you're missing by a little bit.

So, yeah, I just need to figure out what goes wrong in those moments and how can I kind of clear myself and get myself back in the game and just play with bigger targets. Yeah, I just need to learn from this match and figure out what I did wrong.

Q. It might be difficult to say in the moment right now, but do the losses hurt more now, obviously you've had such a high level for a long time now, now that you maybe have higher expectations of yourself in these big matches?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I would say as a tennis player, you can be very irrational, and obviously I'm very grateful for the life that I have, the career I have, but like, you kind of lose your mind after matches like this.

I think that after a day like today, I'm going to completely lose all sense of rationality for, like, 48 hours, and that's just kind of what goes into working so hard for something and then you have, like, matches and days like this. It's different than any other career, I would say.

So, yeah, that's what makes tennis very tough, but also, you know, we have a great life, and I'm grateful for what I do, but it's definitely very hard to process and go through, but yeah.