[imagesource: Tamara Beckwith / NY Post]

If you’re a female tennis player of Russian descent, with blonde hair, comparisons can go one of two ways.

You’re either compared to Anna Kournikova, which means you’re unlikely to ever win a title, or you’re compared to Maria Sharapova, which means somebody actually rates your on-court ability.

In the case of Amanda Anisimova, it’s the latter, and the hype around the 18-year-old has only intensified since Sharapova retired in February this year.

CNN called her “the real deal” in a profile piece from earlier in the week, laying out why the comparison holds water:

Tall, blonde, of Russian descent and with a rare tennis talent, Anisimova resembles Sharapova in more ways than one.

“Obviously, there are similarities, it’s hard to go away from that,” [Max] Eisenbud, the head of IMG Tennis who has overseen the careers of players including Sharapova and Li Na, China’s first grand slam singles champion, told CNN Sport.

“I am the agent, they’re both very attractive, they both have Russian roots, all that kind of stuff. There are those similarities that will always be there. But they are very different personalities.”

Eisenbud would know, given that he helped make Sharapova one of the highest paid female athletes on the planet for more than a decade.

Anisimova was born in the US and competes as an America, but both of her parents were Russian-born, which you may have gathered from that name.

Last year, at the age of just 17, she reached the French Open semi-final, making her the first player born in the 2000s to go that deep in a major tournament.

She is clearly very marketable and has already signed major deals with the likes of Gatorade and Nike, with some rumours suggesting the latter was worth as much as $100 million.

Eisenbud says that is not the case, but did concede that it is “probably one of the biggest clothing deals out there”.

“She is just really down to earth,” added Eisenbud.

Image: Clive Mason / Getty Images

“That personality trait can be attractive to a lot of brands … but I think in the end, she is going to be a real big winner, and brands want to be associated with that.”

At present, she has in excess of 160 000 followers on Instagram, and more than 30 000 on Twitter.

Let’s see some footage of Anisimova in action:

In August last year, she lost her father Konstantin, who was also her coach, and says that now serves as an inspiration to drive her pursuit for on-court excellence.

You can read the full CNN profile here, and let’s finish with this look at her life story, filmed in January of this year:

[source:cnn]