It was billed as the Wimbledon women’s final that no one expected, it finished as a match that American rising star Amanda Anisimova will want to forget.
The 23-year-old always knew she was up against it, playing in her first grand slam final against a five-time major champion who has seemingly reinvented her game on grass.
But even the biggest Iga Świątek fan would never have predicted the 6-0, 6-0 thrashing that played out on Centre Court on Saturday.
The demolition job took less than an hour. It was also the first time since 1911 that a Wimbledon women’s final was won without the champion dropping a single game.
Everything went wrong for Anisimova, while everything went right for Świątek. The perfect storm, with two very different outcomes for either player.
“I think I was a bit frozen there with my nerves and maybe the last two weeks I got a bit tired,” a very poised Anisimova told reporters during her post-final press conference.
“It was a bit tough to digest, obviously, especially during and right after. It’s not how I would have wanted my first grand slam final to go.
“I think I was a little bit in shock after as well, but I told myself I’ll definitely come out stronger after this.”
Despite the heavy defeat in the final, we must not forget the incredible tournament that Anisimova has had at SW19 this year.
No one really tipped the world No. 12 for a title run on the grass, there were simply too many better players, with too much experience in this competition.
But as the big names dropped out of the women’s draw, Anisimova kept getting closer to her maiden grand slam final.
Then came a semifinal against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Ask Anisimova today and she might say she wished her tournament ended after that brilliant win.
The American showed everything that is great about her game against Sabalenka: Her booming backhand drawing gasps from the Centre Court crowd who started to fall in love with the youngster.
But, in truth, none of that form was on display during Saturday’s final. Her serve was left wanting and 28 unforced errors just demonstrated what state of mind she was in.
In her post-match comments, Anisimova said how she had struggled with the heat during the semifinal and thought that maybe could have caused her level to drop in the final.
She also said she felt fatigue during her warmup, but didn’t want to take anything away from her opponent’s “incredible” performance.
Showing courage in defeat
Straight after the match, Anisimova somehow mustered the courage to conduct her on-court interview, something that has become tradition at Wimbledon over the decades.
After brushing away the tears, she managed to speak so eloquently about what must have felt like one of the most difficult moments of her career.
But while she explained how she simply “ran out of gas” in the final, the love she showed her family and friends in the player’s box spoke volumes about the journey she’s been on.
In 2023, Anisimova stepped away from the sport, deciding not to touch her racket for months while she combatted what she described as burnout.
The time away from tennis was to help her own mental health, which had suffered after several seasons on the hamster wheel that is the professional tennis tour.
If bouncing from hotel to hotel is not enough, each tennis match is like a psychological game of chess. It’s no wonder that teenage prodigies, like Anisimova was, can quickly get tired of it all.
During the break, Anisimova said she learned a lot about herself, spending time with the people she loves and exploring new hobbies, one of which was art.
In 2024, she returned and set out proving people wrong.
After her semifinal win at Wimbledon, Anisimova told reporters that people had said she would never reach the top of tennis again after taking such a long break.
She previously said it was a “special” feeling to show how wrong doubters were at SW19 this year.
“My fighting spirit has gotten me to the final today,” she said as her tournament came to an end.
“It wasn’t me playing perfect. There were matches where I struggled and I wasn’t playing to my full potential, but I think just me staying focused and fighting my way through certain moments and focusing and also lifting myself up and trying to not get negative on myself was the most important thing.”
No one needs to tell Anisimova that there will be brighter moments in her career to come.
If anything, this tournament has shown her game is good enough to reach a grand slam final while still having plenty of areas to improve – and that’s exactly what she’s promised to do going forward.
First, though, the more important things. Anisimova vowed to spend some much-needed time with her family and friends after they showed so much support throughout the tournament.
Whatever comes next in her career, though, you get the sense it will be driven from the feeling she felt on Centre Court during this year’s final.
“There’s a lot of improvement,” she said. “If anything, I think it’s more experience for me on how to handle nerves. It’s my first grand slam final, so at least I have that experience now.”
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