BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 8, 2026

Amanda Anisimova

Press Conference

A. ANISIMOVA/E. Raducanu

6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Amanda, great win today. Just take us through what you were most happy with today.

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I'm really happy with my performance today. It's never easy to play against Emma. Really happy with the way I was able to start playing from the beginning to finish.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I think the last four sets you have lost, like, three games. What do you think contributes to that? What do you think, was it a change mentally or did you make an adjustment?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I think it's more so just a mindset that I try to go into and things I try and focus on and really commit to what I'm doing. I think that's been the biggest shift for me. Hopefully I can try to keep that going.

Yeah, I think that's a big thing for myself and just trusting myself.

Q. A question about Jessica Pegula, who you have already faced a couple times this year. What do you find challenging about her game? Curious about your sense of her sort of taking on more of a leadership role in the WTA.

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, it's random, because I'm not playing her, but yeah, I mean, she's difficult for me to face, as you can tell with our head-to-head.

Yeah, I feel like we always play a really good match as of lately, and I love a challenge. I actually like facing her, because I feel like I learn more about myself and my game, where I can improve. I mean, I like to keep facing her because I feel like it makes me a better player.

Yeah, obviously she's a great player, and she is where she belongs. She's very tough to play.

Yeah, I find it very inspiring that, you know, she's trying to make changes and help the players on tour, she's on the player council, and just trying to, you know, be a good leader in that sense. It is really difficult to balance with, you know, everything that you already have going, like commitments and training. Yeah, really happy that she's doing that for us.

Q. The tour architecture council, are you hopeful that something concrete will come out of that initiative?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, hopefully, you know, there can be better changes in terms of keeping the players healthy. I think that's very important.

You know, it's important to make sure that our careers are sustainable and we can be comfortable going in and out of the tournaments. Hopefully there is a positive change in that direction.

Q. I feel like you generally play pretty quickly. Are you ever conscious of the shot clock or of your opponents kind of...

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: No, definitely not. I don't look at the clock unless it's a really long match, just if I'm curious how long I've been playing. But it's not like I try and rush the match in any way. I think that would actually take away from what I'm doing if I shift my focus to something like that.

When the match is going really fast, I try to just remind myself to keep doing the same thing and what I'm doing, not try to change anything or get in my head.

Yeah, it's definitely not what I'm thinking about.

Q. Sorry, I meant the shot clock between points.

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Oh, like in between points?

Q. Yeah.

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: I didn't feel like I was rushing today. I feel like I was taking my time. Yeah, I'm not really sure. I feel like it wasn't that hot today either, so maybe we were quite ready for the next point. But if anything, I like to take my time, so I try to not go over the shot clock.

Q. You mentioned Alysa Liu on court. During the Olympics, I thought about you and like Ash when she was kind of telling her kind of life story. As you have been on tour now a couple years since coming back and everything, how hard is it to maintain the perspective that she currently has in terms of it's vibes, I choose my friends over training. How hard is it to maintain that? Can you maintain that?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: I mean, I'm sure she doesn't choose her friends over training. I think she just, like, has a good balance of, you know, she doesn't only train, train, train, and have to miss out on everything because I can agree with her on that. But you still have to balance the two or else you won't perform at that level.

But yeah, it was like refreshing, because I feel I might have shifted a little bit away from that in the beginning of the year. I feel like I was putting a lot of pressure on myself and trying to be like overperfectionist in what I'm doing and really try and improve. That kind of took away from everything that made my year last year what it was.

Following her story and her journey, like, from before she even performed in the Olympics, I saw all the videos about her. I saw her when nobody really knew about her, and yeah, she blew up.

Even before then, I thought it was very inspiring, and I like the fact that she's still so young and she chose to be very independent and, you know, make decisions for herself. She's not going to do things the way others will tell her to do, and that was kind of my way of going into my career when I was coming back.

Yeah, I saw a lot of similarities. She's definitely more on the extreme end, which I love. It looks like she doesn't care about anything, and I absolutely love that, and it seems to be very much her personality.

Yeah, I feel like I really needed something like that to kind of remind myself that, yeah, like life is short and try and enjoy what you're doing, don't take things too seriously. And with that, at least personally, results will come for me when I have that mindset.

I'm not someone who does well when I'm an overperfectionist and I put a lot of stress on myself. It just doesn't work.

Yeah, I really needed that. Even though she's much younger than me, she's very much a role model for me.

Q. What chips away from that ability to have that perspective of enjoying, just being a professional athlete, like with the success that you got? Was it the success and the accolades and everything of last year? What starts to play with your head?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I think it's a very fast-paced environment, and a lot of times I feel like I shift away from the present moment. I think that's the biggest thing, and looking too far ahead into the future and overfocusing on the results and what you need to improve.

I think I was just thinking too much of that when I wasn't supposed to be, like when I'm already done with my practice. Yeah, when I won matches in the Australian Open, like right after, I was always, like, I need to improve this, and I need to do that. It was kind of like not looking at the glass half full.

I definitely notice that, as I was reflecting after the whole tournament that, yeah, that was different to what I normally would have done in the past. So, yeah, I think it also takes just reflecting. I mean, you can go to doing something differently and it doesn't work for you. As long as you realize it fairly soon, I think that's important.

Q. With the Olympics thing, do you think that tennis players also, from what you're describing, almost have an inner Lindsey Vonn too, that mentality of you just can't stop yourself and fight through the pain and just keep going no matter what, always to the max?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I mean, she also that week, it was a very unfortunate week for her, and we were all rooting for her. She also kind of inspired me that week because I think I was struggling with a very minor thing or I was sick or something, and then I saw her performing with a torn ACL, was it, and I was, like, okay, if she can do that, I think you can try and push a little harder here.

That was like a big wakeup call for me as well as like pushing through it. Yeah, I feel like she's always stood for doing the impossible and always breaking that boundary and that barrier. I really love her and I look up to her a lot.

Don't know if I'll ever fully live up to that potential of pushing myself. That's the goal. I hope to aspire to that, but yeah, she's an incredible role model for me and many other athletes, I'm sure. Yeah, that was tough to watch, but I just hope she's doing better and healing up.