‘I'm grateful': Princess of Wales makes popular appearance at Wimbledon
Princess Catherine waved to the crowd and received a standing ovation as she entered the royal box to watch Iga Swiatek's historic 6-0, 6-0 victory over Amanda Anisimova in the most lopsided Wimbledon final in 114 years.
She told American Anisimova, who wiped away tears as she came to terms with the result, that she should be 'so proud', according to BBC Sport broadcaster Clare Balding.
The royal, who wore a green and purple bow to mark her role as patron of the All England club, also presented the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy to Swiatek, as she did Carlos Alcaraz after the men's singles final last year.
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'On court [the Princess] just congratulated me, and told me some nice stuff about the performance,' Swiatek said.
'Later on, I don't remember really because I was too overwhelmed. I didn't want to do any faux pas. I wanted to behave well.
'Overall, the process of getting the trophy from Her Royal Highness was something surreal. Since I'm a kid, honestly, I'm a big fan of the royal family. It was amazing. I really appreciated that [and] I'm really grateful that it was Her Royal Highness giving the trophy.'
It is not known if Princess Kate, who is a big tennis fan and has struck up a friendship with Roger Federer, will be at Sunday's men's singles final between Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
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At 4-0 down Anisimova was facing a first-set wipe-out but she was powerless to halt the rampant Swiatek, who sealed the opener 6-0 in just 25 minutes. The American won just six points on her serve in the first set and committed 14 unforced errors. An increasingly desperate Anisimova could not stem the tide in the second set, double-faulting again in the third game to give her opponent game point and then netting a backhand. The crowd got behind her but to no avail as Swiatek kept up her level, serving out to win and celebrating before consoling her devastated opponent. Anisimova made 28 unforced errors in the 12 games. Swiatek is Wimbledon's eighth consecutive first-time women's champion since Serena Williams won her seventh and final title at the All England Club in 2016. She has won all six major finals in which she has competed. Swiatek, who now has 100 career Grand Slam match wins, has won the French Open four times and also the US Open, in 2022. Her previous best performance at Wimbledon was a run to the quarter-finals in 2023. The distraught Anisimova left court briefly before returning for the trophy presentation. The American, who lost in qualifying last year, broke down in tears again during her speech on court, calling Swiatek an 'incredible player'. 'I know I didn't have enough today but I'll keep putting in the work,' she said. 'I keep believing in myself and I hope to be back here one day. Thank you everyone.' She went on to say: 'I was a bit frozen there with my nerves. Maybe the last two weeks I got a bit tired or something. 'It's not how I would have wanted my first Grand Slam final to go. '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 6-0, 6-0 in a Grand Slam final. 'If anything, I can look at it as a positive and something I can look at as motivation going forward. - with AFP Originally published as Tennis world reacts to Wimbledon final horror as Kate Middleton watches on
