How rewatching ‘painful’ Wimbledon final inspired Anisimova to beat Swiatek

US Open 2025

Dates: August 24 through September 7 in Flushing Meadows, New York

Amanda Anisimova says she rewatched Iga Swiatek’s crushing defeat in the US Open quarter-finals to resurrect her memory from her previous Wimbledon triumph.

Swiatek, a Polish champion, defeated Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to claim the title in a one-sided showpiece at SW19.

However, the American won 6-4, 6-3 in a high-quality match in New York, demonstrating her true potential.

Anisimova, the night before their Flushing Meadows match-up, claimed to have watched the final back for the first time.

She said, “I watched them [highlights] back, as painful as it was, just to see what I can avoid or what went wrong.”

Then, after I watched some noteworthy highlights, I had to get that out of my head!

After suffering agonizing losses, Anisimova might not have taken the decision.

However, Anisimova’s attitude toward setbacks on the court has changed since she took a break from the sport to guard her mental health.

I think I quickly recovered from the [Wimbledon defeat] incident. The 24-year-old said, “I probably wouldn’t have done this time as well as I did a few years ago.”

“I might have held on to the guilt for longer or perhaps given myself more blame.

I made a point that if you really put a positive mindset out there, you can have a positive outcome for both myself and other people.

Anisimova’s quick recovery from her defeat at the All England Club has surprised even her.

She said, “Truly, the most I felt bad was for the people who had come to watch that day.”

“I am aware of how much people are willing to pay for those tickets to watch Wimbledon.” Despite winning my first Grand Slam final, I kind of felt guilty for it.

I was crying for about 30 minutes before I picked up the phone with someone, and I kind of laughed it off.

“It was just tennis at the end of the day,” I thought. I’m in a really positive position in my life right now. I’m happier every day than I was a few years ago.

Anisimova claimed that her early-round matches in New York were played with “a little bit of fear” despite having missed out on the hard-court competitions in Montreal and Cincinnati.

However, her confidence has increased over the past two weeks, as evidenced by her brilliantly fearless ball-striking against Swiatek.

You can’t enter the game with any fear, I told myself.

“I really came out there today without a shadow of a doubt.”

Flashes of Wimbledon appeared when Swiatek took her serve in the opening match.

She said, “OK, here we go,” when I wasn’t able to hold in that first game.

However, Anisimova did not veer away from attacking the serve of the six-time major champion right away.

In her big-hitting game, Anisimova flustered Swiatek with superb skill on the backhand side and impressive movement the entire time.

She had a good time getting the break on the Pole’s second serve, winning 12 of her 17 points, and winning the match’s opening set.

Swiatek left the court in the middle of the first set and resurrended in full force, breaking once more but this time with a hold.

Anisimova might have given in to her thoughts about returning to Wimbledon, but she kept her composure and won the break two games later.