As the saying goes: Life is not about what happens, but how you react to what happens. With that in mind, we can frame Amanda Anisimova’s looming quarterfinal showdown with Iga Swiatek as an opportunity to relish rather than shy away from.
“To be able to have a rematch, to be able to face her again and give myself another chance, I'm really, really happy about that,” she said on Monday night after tattooing Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, 6-0, 6-3. “I feel like it's going to be a really tough challenge, but I feel like I've been playing well.”
Anisimova was handed the most lopsided of defeats at Wimbledon seven weeks ago, when Swiatek ruthlessly swept past the first-time Grand Slam finalist, handing the 24-year-old American the dreaded “double-bagel.”
It was the first time that a player had suffered such an ignominious defeat in a major final since 1988, when Steffi Graf blitzed Natasha Zvereva, 6-0, 6-0, in the 1988 Roland Garros final. In a weird way, it was also a chance for Anisimova to show the world her steel.
Anisimova, who has landed on her feet this summer to reach her first US Open quarterfinal, will get her shot at redemption on Wednesday afternoon in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Truth be told, her road to redemption commenced moments after the Wimbledon final when the New Jersey native straightened her shoulders and addressed the Centre Court with pride and vulnerability.
A woman who had been through so much adversity, including the sudden loss of her father in 2019, just when she was starting to make her move up the WTA rankings, would not allow herself to be cowed by one difficult loss.
In one of the most memorable runner-up speeches in recent memory, Anisimova spoke with poise and fought back tears as she thanked her mom for pulling their family through hard times. She had lost the final, but won the respect of the tennis world.
That respect only continues in Flushing Meadows. Anisimova, a wildly talented ball striker with one of the purest, most ballistic backhands in the women’s game, is currently playing like a house on fire in New York.
Her serve has looked better than ever during the fortnight, and her physicality has improved as well, which leads many pundits to believe that the American may be headed higher in the rankings. Anisimova made her Top-20 debut in February, then notched her Top-10 debut after Wimbledon. With all facets of her game coming into relief, it’s not difficult to imagine her inside the Top 5 and winning a major title.
Though Swiatek may be a difficult hill to climb, history says that losing, 6-0, 6-0, to an opponent doesn’t preclude the offended player from gaining revenge in the pair’s next meeting. Martina Navratilova, who suffered a humbling defeat from her rival Chris Evert in 1981, bounced back to take her down in the US Open semifinals four months later.
Jimmy Connors was defeated, 6-0, 6-0, by his rival Ivan Lendl in May of 1984 in Forest Hills. Two months later Jimbo was taking out the Czech in a three-set Wimbledon semifinal.
Swiatek will go into Wednesday’s second meeting with Anisimova as the heavy favorite, but what we’ve seen from the current world No. 9 in the aftermath of her loss tells us that a reversal of fortune is possible.
Anisimova admits that the loss to Swiatek stung her. She says that there are no “positives” to take from her Wimbledon final, but it doesn’t mean that she isn’t feeling positive about her chances on Wednesday.
“I don't think it helped me become a better player in any way,” she said on Monday in New York. “It wasn't a good performance by any means. I feel like maybe I learned some things from it and some things I can do differently, but above all, I think it was just a learning experience.
“Bouncing back from that actually was a little bit difficult, because that never happened to me before. But I've worked through it, and the hard court season started off strong for me. I feel like I have moved on from that at this point.”
