Iga Swiatek keeps surprising herself after Wimbledon title caps "surreal" turnaround on grass

The last rally of this year’s Wimbledon women’s final was the first one where the loser, Amanda Anisimova, looked like herself. She moved the way she had been moving, and hit the way she had been hitting, over the course of the fortnight. As the point progressed, I wondered whether the American was thinking, “If only I could start all over, I’d be OK.’”

While the match wasn’t even an hour old at that stage, it was far too late for Anisimova. Her opponent, Iga Swiatek, led 6-0, 5-0, 40-30. As comfortable as Anisimova finally looked, Swiatek still ended the point with a backhand that kicked up chalk on the sideline and went for a winner.

With that, just 57 minutes after the match began, she had won her first Wimbledon title, and sixth Grand Slam overall. She had also become the first player to notch a double bagel in a major final since Steffi Graf blitzed Natalia Zvereva 0 and 0 at Roland Garros in 1988. It probably won’t be any consolation for Anisimova, but at least she lasted 25 minutes longer than Zvereva did that day.

There’s no pressure in tennis quite like Wimbledon final pressure. You can feel it when you walk into Centre Court, even if you’re just sitting in the stands. You know the eyes of the world are on that green rectangle in front of you. In recent years, we’ve seen players as accomplished as Marin Cilic and Ons Jabeur succumb to it, to the point where they struggled just to stay on court and compete.

Anisimova suffered something similar on Saturday. She was the underdog, and playing in her first Grand Slam final. She was broken in the opening game, and she double faulted to go down a second break at 0-4. By the time the second set started, the 23-year-old could feel the added pressure of trying to avoid a double bagel on worldwide TV. You could hear it in the wild screams she let out when she missed two forehands and was broken to begin the second.

The Centre Court crowd cheered every winning shot from Anisimova, and Chris Evert, in the ESPN booth, praised her “better energy” even when she lost the point. But nothing helped. There was hesitation in every swing and step she took, and there seemed to be a force field around the court directing her forehands long, wide, and into the net. She connected on just 45 percent of her first serves, and hit eight winners while making 28 errors. That was four more than the total number of points she won.

Afterward, Anisimova admitted to being “a bit frozen there with my nerves,” but she also said that two straight weeks of play caught up with her.

“I was nervous, but it wasn’t anything out of this world; if anything, I was more excited to go out there and compete,” she said. “I think that I was just really fatigued. I could feel it also in my warm-up this morning. I had to take a break after every single rally out there in my warm-up.”

“To be able to last two weeks in a Grand Slam is definitely something that you need to work a lot on.”

I still felt like an underdog, and I just wanted to soak in every minute. Iga Swiatek

But Anisimova said the biggest problem came from the other end of the court.

“She came out playing very, very well,” she said of Swiatek. “So all the credit to her. She was able to really play the game she wanted, I think.”

If you’re nervous for a Grand Slam final, Swiatek is the last player you want to face. She has played the championship match at six majors now, and has dropped one set. From the start, you could see that rather than sapping her energy, the high-stakes atmosphere was giving her more.

She made 78 percent of her first serves, committed just 11 errors, and didn’t allow Anisimova to reach break point once. That she only needed to hit 10 winners is a testimony, in part, to her total control of the rallies—she didn’t have to take any risks. She lost just two games combined in the semifinal and final. Not bad for someone who had made one quarterfinal at the All England Club before.

“I think I moved better, served better, returned better,” Swiatek said of her performance at Wimbledon this year, compared to seasons past. “I think on grass the first few shots are crucial, and I was really in the zone to play them well.”

Swiatek said that, despite being ranked well ahead of Anisimova, she was able to avoid feeling the pressure of being the favorite, because she had never really expected to be in a position to win Wimbledon in the first place.

“Today I just wanted to enjoy the time that I had on the Centre Court and enjoy the last hours of me playing well on grass ’cause who knows if it’s going to happen again,” she said with a laugh. “I just focused on that and I really had fun.”

“I still felt like an underdog, and I just wanted to soak in every minute.”

With her run, Swiatek completed a remarkable 180-degree turnaround on grass in a matter of a month. She also vaulted herself back into the Top 3, and back into contention at every Slam, on every surface, for the foreseeable future. As always with her, it began on the practice court.

“I’m really happy with the whole process, how it looked like from the first day we stepped on a grass court,” she said of her training sessions with her coach, Wim Fissette. “I feel like we did everything for it to go in that direction without expecting it, just working really hard.”

We hear a lot about how tough it is for the loser of a final to stay on court, watch her opponent celebrate, then give a gracious speech. And it is hard. In this case, though, Anisimova made the most of it. She shook off her tears long enough to thank her family, friends, and especially her mom, Olga, who had flown in from the States for this match. Anisimova lost her father a few years ago, and she praised her mom, the “most selfless person I know,” for getting her here.

“My mom has sacrificed so much,” she told reporters later. “That was why I was getting so emotional. I’m a very lucky daughter to have her in my life.”

Swiatek won Wimbledon, and reinvigorated her career. Anisimova couldn’t muster a game during the match, but her speech, under those circumstances, was a victory that won’t be forgotten, either.