Wimbledon, England – More than two years ago, Amanda Anisimova took a break from tennis due to burnout. A year ago, returning to the game, the Americans tried to qualify for Wimbledon, but were defeated and unable to join the All England Club’s main bracket.
Now she is the first Grand Slam finalist after upsetting first place Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a compelling contest on the steamy centre court on Thursday.
Born in New Jersey and raised in Florida, Anishimova, the 13th seed, was playing in the second major semifinals at the age of 17 after losing that stage at the 2019 French Open.
“This isn’t real now,” Anishimova said after finishing the two-hour, 36-minute contest with the forehand winner in his fourth match point. “I was definitely dying there. I don’t know how I pulled it out.”
On Saturday, she faced Iga Switek and beat Belinda Bensik 6-2, 6-0 in the other semi-finals for the trophy. The winner will be the first Wimbledon Women’s Championship for the eighth in a row. Anishimova tries to become the first American woman to win Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2016. The American woman has lost the last three Wimbledon finals.
According to ESPN BET odds, Swiatek opened in the final as a favourite of -230, while Anisimova was +165. Swiatek had the third shortest odds (+650) to win Wimbledon in the start, attracting 11.6% of the money. Anishimoba, who came to Wimbledon at +2000, holds just 5.8% of the handle to win the tournament. Sabalenka was the most betting woman in ESPN BET, with 34%.
Although Anisimova and Swiatek never played professionally, they played as juniors in 2016 in the Junior Fed Cup when Poland faced the US. According to an ESPN survey, Swiatek won single matches 6-4, 6-2.
“She can play amazing tennis and she has a flat game, so she loves the fast surface,” Swiatek said of Anisimova. “So you need to be ready for a fast shot to be aggressive. But I’m going to focus on myself.”
In May 2023, Anishimova took a break from tour and said that he was “struggling with my mental health” for nearly a year.
Now 23, she’s as strong and smooth as ever, especially on the backhand side. She is guaranteed to break into the top 10 of the WTA rankings for the first time next week, no matter what happens in the title match.
“To be honest, if you told me you were in the final of Wimbledon, I wouldn’t believe you,” Anishimoba said with a laugh. “At least this isn’t that soon. It’s not easy because it was a year’s turn to come back and be here, so many people dream of competing on this incredible court. It was a very privileged to compete here.
For Sabalenka, who replaced Swiecsk in first place in October, the defeat prevented Williams from becoming the first woman to reach the fourth straight Grand Slam final since winning four major trophies a decade ago.
Sabalenka won the US Open in September with her third slam title after missing Wimbledon last year due to an injured shoulder.
She was runner-up at the Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and the Madison Keys at the Cocogoff at the French Open in June. Sabalenka and Gauff smoothed things out, danced together, and posted videos on social media before they began playing at All England Club.
On Thursday, Sabalenka began a press conference in the simplest possible statement, “She was a better player.”
“Damn you lose, suck, do you know?” she added in response to a first question from a reporter. “You’re always… you don’t want to exist anymore.”
Anisimova has improved to 6-3 against Sabalenka, and was the same as the 27-year-old Belarusian as two of the game’s most difficult batsmen squealed with lively shots and loud screams.
They both hit a big serve – Sabalenka reached 120 mph, Anishimoba 112 mph – and ground strokes. Both quickly looked at the endpoints and frequently applied first strike aggression.
The average exchange ended after just three shots. Finally, 167 of the 214 points continued for less than five strokes, with just nine or more points.
Considering the heat, it’s probably a good thing.
The temperature hit 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius) in the first set. Sabalenka went to serve a bottle of water and a blue ice pack that she had been using to keep her cool during the changeover. Anishimoba covered a towel filled with white ice around her neck while sitting on the sidelines.
There was a particularly long scream by Sabalenka in the second set just after Anisimova made the noise before and after another. When the game ended, Sabalenka scored three and she let out another scream.
Sabalenka, who had a double failure to finish the opening set, pulled by closing the second set with a service winner of 114 mph.
Then she broke and started third. However, Anishimoba did not shake and quickly began a four-game run with a four-game lead, quickly becoming 5-2. She lets her get away with a wide backhand with her first match point 5-3, and a certain amount of tension arrived just as Sabalenka could quickly get within 5-4.
Anishimova stayed right there, and on another break she won, covering her mouth with her right hand.
Meanwhile, Swiatek dominated through her victory, with Bencic entering their distant evil semi-finals and never wrapping things up in 71 minutes. Swiatek compiled 26 winners, 26 forced errors, 13, 13, and demonstrated that it can work well in the Grass Court.
She’s 5-0 in the major finals – 4-0 in the French Open clay and 1-0 in the US Open hard courts, but up until now she’s only once before Wimbledon quarterfinals. It’s been more than a year since Swiatek won the title everywhere. This is part of the reason why the 24-year-old from Poland abandoned Sabalenka’s top rankings in October and ranked 8th for two weeks.
“I never even dreamed of being able to play in the final,” said Swiatek, who spent most of 2022, 2023 and 2024, in first place in the WTA rankings.
Swiatek was only once until this week until Wimbledon quarterfinals as she is on clay courts, especially hard courts.
“I’m very excited and proud of myself,” the 24-year-old from Poland said after finishing his victory over the Bensik in just 71 minutes. “Tennis keeps surprise me. Despite my young age, I thought I had survived everything. I thought I had experienced it all on the court. But I never experienced playing with grass. It’s my first time.”
ESPN’s Doug Greenberg and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
