On the Saturday of July 12, women’s final.
Poland’s number 8 seed triumphed against the U.S. number 13 seed in a full 6-0 sweep. Such an upset transpired from a combination of Świątek’s unwavering tactics and Anisimova’s performance–hindering nerves.
I love reading, and she loves music.
I love reading and listening to music.
This is Świątek’s first Wimbledon title, and her sixth Grand Slam title. She now holds the accolade
of being the only Women’s Tennis Association Tour player to hold Grand Slam titles on all three
surfaces of grass, clay, and hard courts. She is trailing Venus Williams, who has the record of seven
majors, with her 6-0 track of major finals. It was just the second complete sweep (referred to as
double bagel) in a Grand Slam Final during the Open Era, the period when pros could play
the Slams with prize money offerings to top players. The first occurrence was in 1988, when Steffi
Graf won the French Open against Natasha Zvereva by the same scoreline. The match lasted a mere
57 minutes.
Nerves are extremely dangerous for any first-time Grand Slam finalist. Świątek had played on the stage five times before without losing, while Anisimova had never played in Wimbledon before. The constant self–reminders that it was merely the sport she had dedicated her life to did not seem to quench the
stress. Unlike all of her other six matches in the past two weeks, her infamous backhand seemed not to faze Świątek in the slightest, as she returned everything with no margin of error. Everything was
rapidly crumbling in the very first set, a portrait of the effect of neurasthenia on one’s performance.
She made 14 unforced errors. Her backhand kept tumbling into the net. The most gut-wrenching of her whole performance was her serves, which could not be directly influenced by the opponent. She made only a third of her first serves.
Anisimova’s biggest strength is her backhand, so for Świątek to not only be capable of returning the shots, but matching them disconcerted her opponent. She was constantly moving Anisimova off
balance and out of the court by breaking the sideline with her backhand. This created space to exploit on the other side, giving Świątek the tactical advantage with her superior inside-out forehand shots.
Anisimova broke character and started going for too many shots, partially contributing to the 14
unforced errors in the first set alone.
If there was a way to describe this match, it would be shocking yet completely unsurprising, Świątek’s
Wimbledon win would be perfectly encapsulated by it. Only a month prior, her world ranking tilted
to number 8, with her losses, such as her failure to defend the French Open clay-court title,
piling up. But she had been showing signs of the controlled aggression that would allow her to
be in control of this match. In mere weeks, she had completely flipped the script to her favor, with
her sub–hour win to become Wimbledon champion resembling the pathways of previous players at
the top of the sport. This title makes her the greatest female tennis player since Serena Williams.