Amanda Anisimova put her 6-0, 6-0 thrashing by Iga Swaitek in the Wimbledon final down to fatigue at the end of a long tournament played in high temperatures, saying her warm-up struggles on the morning of the match were a “red flag” that trouble was ahead.
Anisimova is the first women’s singles finalist not to win a game for more than century, going back to 1911.
The American 23-year-old was blown away by Swiatek, who secured her sixth grand-slam title and first at Wimbledon, and seemed gripped by nerves as she failed to recreate the performance which knocked out world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
A brave Anisimova delivered a speech in front of the Centre Court crowd, paying tribute to her family for their help in her journey, before collecting the runners-up plate from the Princess of Wales.
Speaking to the media, she admitted to pre-match nerves but said that was not the reason for her defeat.
“I was nervous, but it wasn’t anything out of this world. If anything, I was more excited to go out there and compete. But I mean, I didn’t practice yesterday and I think that I was just really fatigued, and 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.
“So I think, if anything, it’s my physicality that I need to work on, and to be able to last two weeks in a grand slam is definitely something that you need to work a lot on. It’s not an easy feat. So, there’s a lot of areas for improvement, I think. I think it’s more experience for me on how to handle nerves, and it’s my first slam final. At least I have that experience now.”
She added: “It’s been a long season, and I think it’s just something that I need to work on. It’s my physicality at the end of the day that I need to improve. It’s just the way I felt. I don’t really know what exactly but it’s just a feeling I had, and I knew that that was a red flag.”
Swiatek’s demolition job at the All England Club meant that she became the youngest woman since a 20-year-old Serena Williams in 2002 to lift major titles on all three surfaces.
Her superb display on the sun-drenched lawns of London also ensured she emerged as the first player since Monica Seles in 1992 to win all her first six major finals.
“It seems super surreal,” said Swiatek. “I didn’t even dream (about this) because for me it was just like way too far. I feel like I’m already an experienced player, but I never really expected this one.
“I want to congratulate Amanda for an amazing two weeks. No matter what happened today, you should be proud of the work that you’re doing. I hope we’re going to play many more finals here and other tournaments, you have a game for that.”
Swiatek’s triumph ended a barren 13-month run for the Polish 24-year-old, who served a short suspension late last year after an inadvertent doping violation linked to contaminated sleep medication melatonin.
“I want to thank my coach (Wim Fissette). With the ups and downs right now, we showed everybody that it’s working,” Swiatek added.
