Tennis players drinking water, maybe Gatorade, or an electrolyte mix is normal during a match, but announcers were confused by whatever Amanda Anisimova had in her cup.
During a changeover in the second set of Anisimova’s win over Alex Eala at the Cincinnati Open this week, cameras caught her taking a sip of a gold-colored carbonated beverage. And without an immediately obvious answer as to what the drink was, Tennis Channel commentators Brett Haber and Lindsay Davenport began to speculate. Because while they knew there was no way Anisimova was sneaking a beer during the match, it really looked like she was sneaking a beer during the match.
It’s supposedly a red bull but with being Amanda, I wouldn’t put anything past her ✌️ pic.twitter.com/aeKrbqDAXV
— Gio (@jsmove7) August 18, 2026
“What is that?” Haber asked, prompting Davenport to wonder, not so confidently, whether the American tennis star was drinking apple cider.
“I mean, I would never suggest that a player was drinking a beer in the middle of a match. But that’s certainly what it looked like,” Haber continued. “I mean, it could be non-alcoholic. It could be cider; it could be anything. We don’t know.”
You could argue the only thing crazier than someone drinking beer during a professional tennis match would be someone drinking a non-alcoholic beer during a professional tennis match. It looked like beer, maybe a little too much carbonation, but you can’t fault anyone for seeing that video and thinking it looked like Anisimova was drinking beer, even if they were confident in assuming it couldn’t have been a beer.
And after all the speculation, the broadcast finally confirmed that Anisimova was drinking Red Bull, not beer. Which makes so much more sense.
“Just to put a bow on the story, we can confirm via one of our courtside camera operators that Anisimova asked for and was delivered a Red Bull,” Haber announced. “That is the mystery bevvy.”
Anisimova has seen a recent surge in popularity, with fans becoming easily invested in her rapid rise, fall, and resurgence. Slamming beers during tennis matches would have undoubtedly caused fans to become even more invested in her performance, although it’s probably better that Red Bull is her in-match indulgence of choice.

About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com
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