Tatjana Maria caps stunning run with Queen's title to become first women's champion since 1973
Qualifier Tatjana Maria is the first women's champion at Queen's since 1973. She beat American world No. 15 Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 6-4 in a masterful exhibition of grass-court tennis Sunday, for her first title in two years. It is her second on grass and her first at WTA 500 level, and Maria beat four top-20 players in a row on the way to the title, having not beaten anyone of that ranking in almost three years. She is the oldest player to win a WTA Tour title since Serena Williams' win at the Auckland Classic in 2020.
Maria, 37, forced two Grand Slam champions, three seeds and seven opponents in total to play on her terms all week in west London, using variations in slice on both her forehand and backhand to break their rhythm. She slowly moved Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys and then Anisimova into parts of the court that are deep waters for them and rock pools for her. Sometimes her slices skidded through, taking away time. Sometimes they lazily floated over the net, before hitting the grass in a game of chance: some checking, some scudding, some jumping sideways. For Maria's opponents, even slightly errant footwork became fatal. On match point against Keys, a lob teased the American into swinging and missing at an overhead.
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'Everything is possible if you believe in it,' Maria said in a BBC interview after the match.
'This doesn't happen every week, so we have to celebrate.'
Anisimova appeared to have figured the German out midway through the first set, patiently opening up the court before unleashing on safe power to go from 4-2 down to 4-3. But she immediately conceded another break of serve, and lost her way for the next several games. Maria complements her feel and finesse with a vicious first serve, finding the lines with regularity and getting above 105 miles per hour with ease. She is able to keep her service games short when required, before dragging her opponent over every blade of grass from point to point, using her incredible speed to retrieve lost causes and turn them into awkward, sometimes even attacking situations.
On Sunday, Anisimova found herself in a never-ending nightmare. As in the first set, she went down a break of serve in the second, before getting into a Maria service game that lasted 20 points. But Maria mixed up aces and short angles to stave off the American, and this time Anisimova could not break back.
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In the following game, Anisimova missed a wild overhead before failing to push Maria out of the rally, going 4-1 and two breaks of serve down in what proved to be the pivotal game. She earned one break back, but Maria calmly served out the two games she needed to lift the trophy.
'I wouldn't be surprised to see you in the Wimbledon final, because you had me running,' Anisimova said in her on-court interview.
Maria does not adapt to grass: her game simply fits it. On any other surface, her opponents can jump the ball out of Maria's strike zone, forcing her to slice from above her shoulders. On grass, even balls hit at speed don't present this problem, allowing Maria to cultivate her tennis of a thousand cuts, eking out unforced errors and stealing away players' confidence.
In 2022, when Rybakina won Wimbledon, she was one set and an inspired Ons Jabeur away from facing Maria in the final. That remains Maria's only Grand Slam semifinal appearance; she has never gone beyond the second round at any other major.
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At Queen's, only Karolina Muchová, another artist of touch and angles who is playing with a one-handed backhand because of a left wrist problem, could cause Maria significant problems. She hits drop shots less often than might be expected, but when she does, they cut through the air before landing with almost no bounce, quietly enough that her youngest daughter, Cecilia, can sleep at the side of the court with her coach and husband, Charles-Edouard, and elder daughter, Charlotte.
'I don't know how we do it, but she's sleeping through the matches normally … She's always courtside. Yes, always with us,' Maria said of Cecilia in a news conference.
Maria's win moves her to No. 43 in the rankings ahead of Wimbledon, where she will be a nightmare first-round draw for anybody inside the top 32.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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