Anisimova Shuts Down 2026 Season Over Recurring Wrist Injury

Season over for the defending Beijing champion

Amanda Anisimova has called an early end to her 2026 season. The American announced on Monday that a recurring left wrist injury will keep her off court for the rest of the year, with a planned return in 2027. "I sustained a wrist injury again, that I need to take care of," Anisimova said. "Time to get healthy, reset, and see you all in 2027."

The decision means Anisimova will not defend her title at the China Open in Beijing, where she lifted the trophy in 2025. She had already withdrawn from last week's Singapore WTA 500 because of the same wrist problem, and her last competitive match remains a third-round loss to Anastasia Potapova at the US Open. She also skips the upcoming Wuhan Open, another tournament she was expected to feature in during the Asian swing.

A rough second half after a career-high start

Anisimova began 2026 at a career-high No. 3 in the world following a breakout 2025 season that included two WTA 1000 titles and back-to-back Grand Slam finals — a run to the Wimbledon final, where she suffered a lopsided 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek, followed weeks later by a US Open final appearance in which she avenged that defeat by beating Swiatek in the quarterfinals before falling to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. That run announced her as one of the tour's biggest threats heading into 2026.

The wrist trouble has since eroded that momentum. With the 1,000 ranking points from her Beijing title coming off the board unearned, she is projected to fall to around No. 16 — outside the WTA's top 15 for the first time in more than a year. She finishes her 2026 campaign with a 22-12 record, a steep drop-off from the consistency that defined her previous season.

WTA Finals hopes all but gone

The early shutdown also all but ends her hopes of reaching the WTA Finals in Riyadh, an event she debuted at in 2025, since she now has no further tournaments to close the points gap on the players chasing the eight qualifying spots. Anisimova is not the only high-profile absence from the Chinese capital this week: Jessica Pegula, Marta Kostyuk and Sorana Cirstea have also pulled out of the WTA 1000 event, thinning a field still headlined by Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka as they fight for the year-end No. 1 ranking.

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For Anisimova, the focus now shifts entirely to recovery. She has targeted the Australian Open in January as her likely comeback point, giving her roughly three months to heal a wrist injury that has now cost her three tournaments in a row and threatens to undo much of the progress from her career-best season.