By Julien Pretot
NEW YORK (Reuters) – She is ranked only 182nd for now but U.S. Open junior champion Amanda Anisimova has already set her sights on the top spot in the world.
The 16-year-old American crushed compatriot Cori Gauff 6-0 6-2 in Sunday’s junior final for her first major title after failing to qualify for the main seniors’ draw in Flushing Meadows.
Anisimova made her main-draw grand-slam debut as a wild card entry at the French Open, a year after finishing runner-up in the junior tournament there.
She was the youngest player since 2005 to play in the main draw at Roland Garros.
This season, she has played — and lost — three finals on the third-tier ITF circuit.
“My first goal is maybe finish in the top 150 this year. That’s what I want to start off with. I’m not going to get too ahead of myself,” Anisimova told a news conference.
“I’m just going to do one tournament at a time, and just see how they go. I just really want to play in some main-draw tournaments at slams. That would be my goal for next year.”
Anisimova, who was playing in her last junior tournament, will need to adjust to life as a professional tennis player but the process has already started.
“I think the pro tournaments have really made me develop more as a tennis player. I think my mind kind of changed. You know, I started focusing more and acting more like a professional,” she said. “Everything is so different up there.”
Anisimova believes she is just getting started and her ambitions are quite simple.
“I hope to be No. 1 and win every grand slam,” she said.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
