Anastasia Potapova: living single ahead of Indian Wells

For the second time in two years, Anastasia Potapova was completely alone.

The first time was at 2024 Roland Garros, following a split with longtime coach Igor Andreev.

“I felt inside of my head that I was doing something wrong with my tennis,” Potapova told me last fall in Wuhan. “I needed to step in and hit harder, take more risks and be aggressive.

“That’s how I started practicing, and even though I couldn’t hit inside the court for three days, I started getting better and better.”

The gambit paid off and she made her first Grand Slam second week.

“I think sometimes it’s good for the player to go without a team. You take more responsibility for yourself, and you have no one to blame for your result. It’s all on you, and all you can do is focus on yourself. I don’t think it’d be great all the time, but it can be helpful in making a player grow.”

Potapova brought a close friend with her to the Transylvania Open in Cluj Napoca last month, but she was otherwise even more alone than she had been in Paris. Not only had she parted with Dorian Descloix, the coach she’d hired weeks after her run in Paris, but she was also dealing with the public fallout of her divorce from fellow player Alexander Shevchenko.

“It’s obvious what’s going on,” she told me back in September, reticent to say more despite already having wiped Shevchenko from her social media and removed her wedding ring.

Though Potapova had quietly shared the news that her year-long marriage to Shevchenko had ended over the off-season, a viral interview with *Bolshe* journalist Sofya Tartakova made it a global headline just before heading to Cluj.

“I’m really happy we did it because it’s one of the best interviews I’ve ever done,” she told me last month in Dubai. “I opened up a lot, explained to the people how this life is not as easy as it seems. There is a lot going on behind the scenes that people don’t always understand, so I tried to show a little bit and explain what really goes on.”

I feel like I’m 10 kilos now! I feel very light in my head. I have such big relief, and I’m just really enjoying every day, every moment. Even if something bad happens, I just take it. I’ve learned how to move on, and I don’t really stress out about anything. I can’t be bothered. Anastasia Potapova

Potapova was fresh off winning a sixth straight match, a thudding 6-3, 6-0 victory over former world No. 10 Beatriz Haddad Maia to back up her title run in Cluj Napoca.

“I’m just living day by day,” said Potapova, a former junior No. 1 and 2016 Wimbledon girl's champion. “I’m not trying to look back or run forward. I’m just trying to stay in the moment. Obviously, I’ve been on tour for a long time, eight years now, which is a pretty high number when I’m just 23! I’m really happy I already have so much experience, and maybe it can help me in the near future to do even bigger things. But I’m just trying to enjoy life as much as I can.”

For all that is made of the importance of a player’s team, Potapova once again played her best tennis on instinct alone. She made the final without dropping a set and secured her third WTA title—and her first in two years—over Lucia Bronzetti.

“I had to do everything by myself,” said Potapova, who arranged her own practices and recovery throughout the week. “Nobody could help me.”

She endeared herself to the Romanian crowd during the trophy ceremony when she delivered a heartfelt tribute to Simona Halep, who had retired earlier in the week.

“I never think of doing things like that because I don’t like to do them publicly,” Potapova said. “I would have told her everything I said publicly, in private. It would have been better to do it personally, of course, but I figured, if not now, there would have been no point to say it later. This is how I actually felt and I thought she deserves these words.

“We always had some crazy matches,” she added of the former world No. 1. “The last one we played in Cincinnati was three sets. I always loved to play against her because growing up, I was always looking up to her. I looked up to her game, as well, because I feel we are very similar in this case. We don’t have big power and we’re not such big people, so we have to hang in there, run, and really build the points. I was trying to take that strategy from her.”

But like Halep, Potapova plays her best when she sheds her defensive instincts and steps into the court. Technically between coaches, the 23-year-old is back to a more hyper-aggressive mindset and hitting through her extreme-grip forehand with help from “hitting partner-plus” Martin Blasko.

“I’m not trying to force things because I really want to find someone who will suit my game and my personality,” said Potapova, who jokingly batted back my suggestion that she make overtures to the newly available Goran Ivanisevic.

“I think it’s been enough for him with the WTA!”

Potapova remained in Dubai after a second-round exit to prepare for the Sunshine Swing. Opening against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, she could be Madison Keys's first opponent since the American won the Australian Open. Her last match against Keys, who is currently riding a 12-match win-streak, came in 2021, which Potapova won on hard courts in straight sets.

A quarterfinalist at last year’s BNP Paribas Open, the world No. 34, who narrowly missed out on a seed, could yet secure that elusive Top 20 debut with strong results this spring. After a heavy 2024 season, Potapova certainly sounds like she’s in the mindset to make that happen.

“I feel like I’m 10 kilos now!” she told me. “I feel very light in my head. I have such big relief, and I’m just really enjoying every day, every moment. Even if something bad happens, I just take it. I’ve learned how to move on, and I don’t really stress out about anything. I can’t be bothered.”