America’s Amanda Anisimova takes on Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles final at Wimbledon on July 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP
If Iga Swiatek ends her 13-month-long title drought at Wimbledon of all places, with a victory over Amanda Anisimova in their first-ever meeting, it must surely be ‘God’s calling’.
The four-time Roland-Garros champion is a bona fide clay-court great. Having won the U.S. Open in 2022, she is more than capable on hard. But grass has proved slippery. She has lost one-fourth of her matches and has had no titles as a senior pro till date.
Over the last three weeks, however, things have changed. The 24-year-old reached her maiden final on the lawns at Bad Homburg in Germany and is now in her first Wimbledon title round. Never before at SW19 had she won more than four matches.
Popular theory — there is more than a grain of truth here – is that players on a sure footing do not compete in the week preceding a Slam. Swiatek did, and that was indication enough of the ground she had to cover.
The Wimbledon of today is more hospitable to counter-punchers like Swiatek, for it no longer carries the pace and skiddy bounce of yore. But it is still fast and needs customised footwork, especially while turning at the corners. The Pole, to her credit, has found a hitherto successful formula.
Anisimova, though, has the game to ruffle her. Similarly attack-minded players – Jelena Ostapenko being the glorious example – have spelt trouble in the past, hurrying her usually reliable serve and forcing her to be a tad more aggressive from the baseline than she would like.
The American may be in her first Major final, but she is no novice. A contemporary of Swiatek — just three months separate the two — Anisimova made her presence in a Slam semifinal a full year earlier, at the 2019 French Open, before her career took a different turn.
Swiatek, however, is the most overqualified Wimbledon final debutant in recent times – she is 5-0 in Major summit clashes. Will her tempered aggression triumph over Anisimova’s easy power?
Published – July 11, 2025 10:16 pm IST
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