On Saturday, Amanda Anisimova came up short against Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon women’s singles final, bringing a memorable run for the new world No. 7 to a disappointing end.
Throughout her two weeks at SW19, Anisimova impressed, picking up straight-set wins in three of her six matches en route to the final while notably eliminating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
After an emotional on-court speech during the trophy presentation, Anisimova reflected on the loss while speaking at her post-match press conference. While she gave Swiatek all the credit, saying that the former world No. 1 played well, Anisimova cited nerves and fatigue as contributing factors in her lackluster performance on Saturday:
“I think I was a bit frozen there with my nerves and maybe the last two weeks I got a bit tired or something. She definitely made it difficult for me, she’s an unbelievable player, as I’ve said many times, and she deserves the win.”
As Anisimova went on to explain, throughout her warm-up on Saturday, she felt noticeably fatigued, with nearly two full weeks of tennis beginning to take their toll.
You can see her comments at the 0:45 mark of the video below.
Anisimova Motivated to Come Back Stronger Following Wimbledon Final
Amanda Anisimova’s 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek on Saturday marked just the second double bagel in the final of a singles Grand Slam in the modern era, however, the new world No. 7 is more motivated than ever to bounce back.
After taking eight months off from tennis two years ago, Anisimova is no stranger to coming back stronger.
In May of 2023, when she announced her decision to step away from tennis, she was fresh off a first-round exit in Madrid that capped off a series of disappointing results stretching back to Indian Wells in March.
While it was obvious to her that she needed a mental health break, some cautioned her on the decision, indicating that if she were to return to the tour down the line, she would likely struggle to regain her form.
Since returning to the WTA Tour at the start of last season; however, Anisimova’s career has reached new heights, with a WTA 1000 win in Qatar earlier this year and her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.
Despite Saturday’s loss, Anisimova is motivated to bounce back.
“It’s not how I would have wanted my first Grand Slam final to go, but I think I was a little bit in shock after as well, but I told myself I’ll definitely come out stronger after this.
“That’s not an easy thing to go through, losing [zero] and [zero] in a Grand Slam final, but if anything I can look at it as a positive and something I can look at as motivation going forward, and obviously there’s a lot of things I need to do to progress.”
Amanda Anisimova Cites Serve As Key Area for Improvement Going Forward
Throughout Saturday’s match, Amanda Anisimova struggled with her serve, double faulting five times while posting a 1st Serve Percentage of just 45% and winning just 37% of 1st Serve Points.
The match marked the third straight where Anisimova posted a lower 1st Serve Percentage than her opponent. Additionally, despite an impressive run to the final, Anisimova recorded more double faults than her opponent in five of her seven matches at SW19; the other two, she and her opponent finished with the same number of double faults.
As she explained in her post-match press conference, she and her team will go back and look at ways to improve her serve:
“It’s definitely something that I need to work on because I feel like the last two weeks I’ve dug myself out of so many holes just because I’ve been struggling so much on my first serve.
“And to honestly make it to the finals of Wimbledon with a mediocre serve, I feel like I would say, because I personally don’t think it’s been above average this whole time, … but I feel like I’ve been fighting my way through with an average serve so it’s definitely an area of improvement.”
Given how well she’s played with what she describes as an “average” serve, it will be interesting to see where Anisimova goes from here.
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