Amanda Anisimova has reached the biggest final of her career at the Canadian Open. It comes just one year after she enrolled in college after taking an indefinite break from tennis.

Less than 12 months ago, the American was touring Nova Southeastern University as she prepared to go back to school.

Now, the unseed

Anisimova rocked the tennis world last May when she announced that she would be stepping away after “struggling with [her] mental health and burnout”. She started painting and sold her artwork to raise money for charity.

By August, she had become a student at NSU and completed a semester at college. Four months after quitting, she picked up a racket and decided to train alongside her studies. The former world No. 21 returned to competition at the start of the season in January and she’s now enjoying one of the best weeks of her career in Toronto.

“I think that after the break I felt very refreshed and just had a different kind of head space, like more clarity,” Anisimova said after upsetting Sabalenka in the quarter-final. “I just was very burnt out before I took the break, so coming back I was enjoying it a lot more, and the training and all the process, I had like a different perspective for it.

ed tennis star has upset world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka en route to the championship match in Toronto.

Anisimova rocked the tennis world last May when she announced that she would be stepping away after “struggling with [her] mental health and burnout”. She started painting and sold her artwork to raise money for charity.

“Yeah, I think that I just gained a different perspective when it comes to travelling and the training process. As I said, I’m just really happy to be back, and I think taking the break really just helped me, because I honestly never took a break that was longer than like two weeks in my life, so I think I just needed that as a human being to just rest for once and just let my body recover.”

She backed up the victory by beating eighth seed Emma Navarro to advance to the final. Afterwards, Anisimova reflected on her time at college and her newfound love for art. She explained: “I think that getting to experience like six months of a normal life was very nice for me.

“I love going to school, and going in person, so I didn’t think that that would be something I would be able to do, so I was just really happy about that. I’ve been doing online like for forever, so, yeah, I think it was just a fun experience.

By August, she had become a student at NSU and completed a semester at college. Four months after quitting, she picked up a racket and decided to train alongside her studies. The former world No. 21 returned to competition at the start of the season in January and she’s now enjoying one of the best weeks of her career in Toronto.

“I think that after the break I felt very refreshed and just had a different kind of head space, like more clarity,” Anisimova said after upsetting Sabalenka in the quarter-final. “I just was very burnt out before I took the break, so coming back I was enjoying it a lot more, and the training and all the process, I had like a different perspective for it.

“Yeah, I think that I just gained a different perspective when it comes to travelling and the training process. As I said, I’m just really happy to be back, and I think taking the break really just helped me, because I honestly never took a break that was longer than like two weeks in my life, so I think I just needed that as a human being to just rest for once and just let my body recover.”

“It was also to keep me busy, I was doing that as well as training, so it wasn’t that easy, but I wanted to keep myself as busy as I could. Yeah, the art has just been something that I can get away from my phone, and just have some time just with myself, so I’m happy that I found a space like that for myself.”

Anisimova’s ranking dropped during her absence and at No. 132 in the world, she is the lowest-ranked Canadian Open finalist in 40 years. She faces defending champion Jessica Pegula on Monday with the trophy up for grabs. Anisimova has never won a title above WTA 250 level.

She backed up the victory by beating eighth seed Emma Navarro to advance to the final. Afterwards, Anisimova reflected on her time at college and her newfound love for art. She explained: “I think that getting to experience like six months of a normal life was very nice for me.

“I love going to school, and going in person, so I didn’t think that that would be something I would be able to do, so I was just really happy about that. I’ve been doing online like for forever, so, yeah, I think it was just a fun experience.