LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Iga Swiatek of Poland poses for a photo with the Ladies’ Singles Trophy … More
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Iga Swiatek swept into the history books on Saturday by winning her first Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles championship.
She also became the first woman since Steffi Graf at the 1988 French Open to win a major singles final 6-0, 6-0 when she routed Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. in 57 minutes.
Swiatek also won the title without facing a single Top-10 opponent, as ESPN’s Brad Gilbert pointed out on social media.
Anisimova, the No. 12 player in the world and the No. 13 seed, was the highest-ranked player Swiatek faced.
The last woman to win a major without facing a Top-10 opponent was Emma Raducanu at the 2021 U.S. Open. The highest seed she faced there was No. 11 Belinda Bencic.
Swiatek, who took home $4.1 million in prize money, could have faced world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final, but Anisimova earned her spot in the final by taking out Sabalenka in three tough sets. That match, combined with the magnitude of playing in her first major final, likely contributed to her poor level of play in the final.
Anisimova deserves credit for reaching the Wimbledon final after a tumultuous few years in which her father passed away, she battled Covid and various injuries and then took a mental health break from the sport in 2023. A year ago, she lost in Wimbledon qualifying.
“It goes to show that it is possible. I think that’s a really special message that I’ve been able to show,” Anisimova told reporters. “When I took my break, a lot of people told me ‘You would never make it to the top again if you take so much time away from the game.’ That was a little hard to digest. Because I did wanna come back and still achieve a lot and win a Grand Slam one day. Just me being able to prove that you can get back to the top if you prioritize yourself.. that’s been incredibly special to me. It means a lot.”
As for Swiatek, who enjoys listening to AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin before her matches, she is up to No. 3 in the Live Rankings and will be a major threat to win a second U.S. Open title and seventh major later this summer in New York.
She also feels she silenced her critics in the Polish media.
“For sure the past months, how the media sometimes described me, I gotta say, unfortunately Polish media, how they treated me and my team, it wasn’t really pleasant,” she said. “I hope they will just leave me alone and let me do my job. Obviously you can see that we know what we’re doing. I have the best people around me. I have already proven a lot. I know people want more and more but it’s my own process and my own life and my own career. I hopefully am gonna have freedom from them to let me do my job the way I want it.”
