Amanda Anisimova suffered the worst defeat in a Wimbledon final since the First World War, winning not a single game in a 6-0, 6-0 collapse against Iga Swiatek.
The American was so wracked by nerves she could barely put a ball in court, losing in under an hour – the second double bagel defeat in a Grand Slam final since Natasha Zvereva was destroyed at the French Open by Steffi Graff.
Fraulein Forehand was a ruthless competitor and Swiatek is her heir in that regard: the Pole was utterly merciless in ensuring humiliation was added to defeat. The 24-year-old has a first Wimbledon final and a sixth Grand Slam.
Our first sympathies must go to the 23-year-old woman who had to live out this anxiety dream turned waking nightmare, but what about the poor souls on Centre Court? They had paid up to £315 per ticket for 56 minutes of singles action.
There was much talk in the build up of this being a first Wimbledon final for both women but if that suggested a measure of equality between their experiences that was entirely false. Swiatek had made five Grand Slam finals before and won the lot; Anisimova was making her first appearance on this stage – and the stage fright was appalling.
Anisimova hit eight double faults and made 28 unforced errors.
Iga Swiatek was utterly dominant as she was crowned Wimbledon women’s singles champion
Her opponent, American Amanda Anisimova struggled to meet the occasion on Centre Court
In victory Swiatek became the first Polish player ever to win a singles title at Wimbledon
Her body seemed so paralysed she could barely move.
In the first point of the match she sent a backhand well long. Swiatek nailed a couple of returns and had an early break. A double fault conceded another. 3-0.
When Swiatek served at 5-0, 3-0 Anisimova played her first decent point of the match, bringing Swiatek in with a drop shot and then hammering the ball at her. Swiatek lunged at the ball and hacked it over the net off her frame –
The first set lasted 25 minutes; the first 6-0 set to begin a Wimbledon women’s final since Martina Navratilova, watching from the front row of the Royal Box, thrashed Andrea Jaeger 6-0, 6-3.
At every changeover the crowd burst into noise: not singing or chanting but talking, trying in vain to make sense of what they were witnessing.
Anisimova shipped another break at the start of the second set, slashing a forehand wide with a scream of dismay.
At 2-0 down she tried a drive volley – the kind of shot you take on when full of confidence – and dragged it into the midriff of the net.
From there it was only a case of whether Anisimova would win a game and it never looked likely.
Swiatek fell to the ground in her moment of victory then jumped for joy around the court. That felt a little tone deaf given the broken young woman on the other side of the net.
The convention is for both players to remain on court until the trophies are presented and speeches made but Anisimova, approached by tournament referee Denise Parnell, left the court. She re-emerged wiping away tears.
