On 25th birthday, Anisimova embraces her 'meme queen' era
NEW YORK -- It was quite an eventful birthday for Amanda Anisimova, who booked a spot in the US Open second round with conviction after beating countrywoman Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-3 on Monday afternoon.
Following the match, the crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium serenaded her with "Happy Birthday," to which she provided many reactions befitting of a "meme queen," as she's been referred to by fans.
Even her opponents are catching onto the label. Fellow WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz players Mirra Andreeva and Daria Kasatkina took a selfie in front of the now-25-year-old's locker, covered with pictures of her varied on-court reactions. The nameplate next to it read "HBD Meme Queen."
"Their selfie was really cute," the World No. 10 told reporters after the match. "When I saw them taking a picture in front of it, I thought it was really sweet, and it made me laugh. Those two are great and it's always fun to be around them."
During media day, Anisimova said she's well aware of the growing trend and gets a kick out of it, though she would have felt very differently earlier in her career.
"Sometimes my friend is like, 'I saw you across my Instagram, like, 50 times today, but I don't know why.'" she said. "Yeah, I definitely see them and they're very entertaining and very funny. But I didn't always think that, because I've definitely always been very expressive and an emotional player, and I make all kinds of faces that I didn't even know my face could possibly make."
Anisimova explained that the day after the 2017 French Open semifinals, the then-17-year-old woke up to find that photos of her many reactions during the match -- a three-set loss to Ashleigh Barty -- were posted across the internet. At the time, it was deeply upsetting.
"I was mortified," she said. "I told myself, 'Oh my God, this is awful. I can never make these faces again. I'm never going to do it again.' But here we are today. I just can't help it. It's who I am. Yeah, now I'm able to find them entertaining and hilarious, but at the time, when I was a teenager, I really felt that was quite awful."
A finalist in New York last year, Anisimova will play Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger in the second round on Wednesday.
