Tennis world reacts to Wimbledon final horror as Kate Middleton watches on
Kate Middleton made a triumphant return to Wimbledon following her cancer battle - but unfortunately most of it was incredibly difficult to watch.
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Princess Kate sat through the most one-sided women’s final in 114 years in at times awkward and hard-to-watch scenes at Wimbledon overnight Saturday.
Iga Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0 in just 57 minutes - the first time a woman has won a final at Wimbledon without dropping a game since 1911, when Britain’s Dorothea Lambert Chambers triumphed by the same scoreline.
Anisimova was reduced to a shell of the player that upset world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals - and left in tears during her runner-up trophy acceptance speech.
She said after the match she had been “frozen by nerves” playing in the biggest match of her career.
The tennis world tried to be kind as the young American’s dreams became a real life nightmare.
Tennis icon Rafael Nadal was one of many viewers to show some public support for the overwhelmed 23-year-old.
“Be proud, Anisimova Amanda, Grand Slam finalist,” he wrote on X.
American compatriot Coco Gauff tweeted: “So much to be proud of Amanda. Keep your head up.”
Aussie Nick Kyrgios also posted: “Amanda!!! Slam finalist!!! Head up”.
“Anyone who goes on social media to trash Amanda needs to really check themselves,’ Aussie tennis great Rennae Stubbs added.
“This is a kid that just made her first major final and deservedly so. She’s also someone who’s overcome a lot, including losing her father when she was a teenager. She is a lovely kid, so chill.”
America tennis coach and TV commentator Brad Gilbert called it a “very sad day for tennis”.
“You’d have to be pretty cold not to feel for Amanda Anisimova,” added tennis commentator Craig Gabriel.
“Amanda Anisimova crushed her speech in the most beautiful, serene way, and I’ll never forget it,” wrote tennis journo Chris Oddo. “That was truly poignant, and I have so much respect for how she pulled it together and created an incredible moment for herself, her family and tennis on Centre Court.”
“This has been far more about Swiatek being great than Anisimova being awful,” opined tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg. “But either way, it’s lopsided and ... an all-time beat down.”
Amid the trolling there were some jokes you just had to laugh at.
“It’s going so quickly that people haven’t had time to faint yet,” one person wrote, after a series of incidents in the hot weather at the tournament.
“This final could have been an email,” another added.
Anisimova will rise to be No. 7 on the WTA Tour rankings as a result of her run this week — a new career high.
Swiatek, 24, is just the second player in the Open era to win a major without losing a game in the final since Steffi Graf humbled Natalia Zvereva at the 1988 French Open.
“It seems super surreal,” said Swiatek, who is the first Wimbledon singles champion from Poland and has now won majors on all surfaces.
“I didn’t even dream, for me it was way too far. I feel like I am already an experienced player after winning the Slams before but I never expected this one.
“This year I really, really enjoyed it and feel I improved my form here.
“I am always going to remember the opening of champagne bottles between serves. It is a sound that will keep me awake at night.”
Swiatek lost just one set during the entire tournament as she won her first trophy on grass, two weeks after reaching the final of the grass-court event at Bad Homburg.
US 13th seed Anisimova was expected to prove a stern test, but Swiatek performed a demolition job.
Anisimova made a nervous start. She was broken in the first game, soon slipping 2-0 behind and the signs looked ominous.
The American appeared to have found her feet in her next service game but the merciless Swiatek refused to give ground and recovered to move 3-0 ahead when Anisimova double-faulted.
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
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