By Scoop Malinowski
Robin Anderson deserves a perseverance award in pro tennis. She earned a USTA wildcard late last year to play the 2022 AO, finally her first Grand Slam main draw in her eleventh year as a professional tennis player.
Anderson, from Matawan, NJ, was a very good ITF junior and had some good results in junior slams before playing four years at UCLA 2011-2015. I met her and her dad way back in the early 2000s when we played in the Old Bridge tournament, different draws of course.
Anderson is one of the best players to develop from New Jersey, along with Justin Gimelstob, Fritz Buehning, Peter Fleming, Christina McHale and Kristie Ahn. Anderson’s WTA ranking fluctuated from the top 200-400 range. She’s been on the outside looking in to the tennis big time, she tried qualifying for Grand Slams six times, from 2016 to 2021, failing in the second round five of those six attempts.
Now 28 and ranked 179, Anderson drew another wildcard 37 year old Sam Stosur in the first round of the AO this year. It’s to be veteran 480 ranked Stosur’s final Slam in singles (she’s ranked 15 in doubles). Anderson got off to a good start with her varied baseline game and won the first set in a tiebreaker but lost the next two sets 63 63 to end her long delayed aspirations of making an impact in a major tournament.
But the experience should help Anderson. She got a taste of the big time and will use it to try to ascend her career from the ITF minor leagues of pro tennis to the big time of the WTA Tour.
AO · Australian Open · Robin Anderson · Sam Stosur · UCLA
