Anisimova's resurgence adds extra layer of mystique to Swiatek final

The Guardian

11-07-2025

On a quiet outside clay court at the Hungarian national tennis centre in Budapest nine years ago a pair of outstanding 15-year-old players tussled in front of a few dozen spectators. Although the duel offered glimpses into the potential from both sides of the net, eventually Iga Swiatek defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-2 en route to Poland's triumph over the United States in the Junior Fed Cup.
Even though Anisimova endured a difficult afternoon, memories of those days immediately drew a smile to her face. 'I used to enjoy those Fed Cup trips a lot,' Anisimova says. 'We had a lot of fun on those trips. She was playing very well. She was a great junior – I remember a lot of coaches were saying that she's going to be a big deal one day. Obviously they were right.'
Many coaches said similar things about Anisimova in those days and their instincts were also correct. On Saturday Swiatek and Anisimova, now 24 and 23, will meet in the Wimbledon singles final. Despite being born just three months apart, this will be their ever first professional meeting.
For both players this has been a long time coming. During their time as juniors, Anisimova immediately flitted ahead of her contemporaries. She was already a junior US Open champion in 2017 at the age of 16 and by the time Swiatek won her junior grand slam title at Wimbledon a year later, Anisimova had graduated to the professional tours. Her first peak was marked by an unforgettable semi-final run at the 2019 French Open and it seemed inevitable that her success would continue. At the same tournament, Swiatek had her own modest breakthrough as she reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time.
Although she was the first from their age group to make it to the highest levels of the sport, Anisimova's rapid rise soon lost momentum. She struggled with the gruelling nature of professional tennis and grief following her father's death, taking an eight-month mental health break in 2023 before returning at the beginning of last year. Her breakthrough performances this year have shown the importance of taking a step back and moving at your own pace instead of constantly looking to push through difficulties and pain. With her run this week, she will break into the top 10 from her current ranking of 12, rising at least to No 7.
Alongside Anisimova's peerless shot-making abilities – almost nobody in the world is blessed with her timing, clean technique and hand-eye coordination, which allow her to generate such destructive power from all parts of the court with ease – the biggest revelation from her run to her maiden grand slam final has been her competitive abilities and toughness. For much of Anisimova's career, her talent has been in dialogue with her mental and physical vulnerabilities. After managing the pressure of being the heavy favourite in every match en route to the semi-finals, she was so tough in the many moments that Sabalenka could have turned the match again.
While Anisimova's path became difficult, Swiatek kept on rising. She is now the greatest player of her generation, a five-time grand slam champion. Despite the past 12 months marking one of the most challenging periods of her career, Swiatek still arrived at Wimbledon ranked No 3 in the WTA race.
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Swiatek's inability to win a fourth consecutive French Open title, it turns out, has actually been a blessing in disguise. Instead of catching her breath after yet another French Open title, her relative underperformance on clay allowed her to immediately prepare for the grass-court season and her additional time on the surface has allowed her to gain more comfort than ever before. Swiatek's 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Belinda Bencic in the semi-finals was the type of dominant performance she has inflicted on almost every player on the tour on other surfaces.
Anisimova, of course, is one of the few players who have not faced Swiatek's wrath as a professional and the lack of familiarity between them adds a layer of mystique to this encounter. In many ways, Anisimova fits the profile of the type of player that Swiatek can sometimes be vulnerable to on faster surfaces. She is a devastating, offensive shotmaker who can take returns early, rob Swiatek of time with her early, flat ball-striking and flatten the Pole's second serve.
However, Swiatek's tendency to rise up and produce her best level on the biggest occasions speaks for itself. She is 5-0 in grand slam finals and 16-2 overall in big finals, matches that often have not been close. Although Swiatek and Anisimova have taken completely different paths since those days in Budapest, they have both backed up their early promise and established themselves on the biggest stages of their sport. Now they will renew their nine-year rivalry with everything on the line.