Undone by a first-serve percentage way below her average (just 50% today), and a ruthless opponent who sent nothing but bullets back in her direction, Iga Swiatek was forced to contemplate what went wrong on Wednesday evening in New York.
A rare occasion, then, for a woman who has spent much of the last five seasons dominating the women’s game. 125 weeks at No. 1, six major titles and 24 WTA titles overall, if you’re scoring at home. Losing doesn’t visit Swiatek’s side of the net very often, but when it does, it hits hard.
The disappointment clearly weighed her down as she spoke to reporters after falling to American Amanda Anisimova, 6-4, 6-3 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Fresh off a brilliant summer that saw her break through for her first Wimbledon title and rip off another big trophy late last month in Cincinnati, she entered New York riding a tsunami-sized wave of confidence. Having shaken the blues from a disappointing first half of the season, her game was humming and a second US Open title was in her sights.
Now that she has come back to earth—at least temporarily—Swiatek knows that today’s loss to Anisimova won’t erase the important achievements of the last few months, even if she didn’t feel like lingering on them.
“I know what I achieved, so I can't erase it because I lost today,” she said.
Instead of celebrating her milestones, Swiatek, critical thinker that she is, was more interested in starting the wheels turning on the thought process that will eventually enable her to grow from today’s defeat.
“I think I didn't serve the best throughout the whole tournament, but I think because [Anisimova] returned so well, you could see the bigger difference,” Swiatek said. “I'm aware I couldn't win today's match playing like that, serving like that, and with Amanda being so aggressive on the returns. So I kind of get it.”
Credit Anisimova for playing the match to perfection. She took a stand on her baseline and ferociously doled out jaw-dropping ground strokes that were too hot to handle for the Pole. Swiatek won just 10 of 30 second-serve points, and was constantly under pressure, thanks to the aforementioned lower than usual first-serve percentage.
Still, both sets were close, and they hinged on big moments, which Anisimova, buoyed by frothy partisan support in the world’s biggest tennis stadium, handled like a boss.
What could Swiatek do? Even she had to admit, there wasn’t much.
“I kind of have to let it go and just focus on the next one,” she finally said.
One thing’s for certain: Swiatek did not underestimate Anisimova simply because she defeated her, 6-0, 6-0, in the Wimbledon final in July. The Pole knows what Anisimova is capable of. She was ready for it. And she simply couldn’t execute at the necessary level today.
“It's not a surprise,” she told reporters. “I practice with her. I know how she can play. Yeah, it was totally different [than Wimbledon]. She moved better, she played better. Everything was different.”
As she summed up Anisimova’s incredible effort, she seemed to be turning the page on her own loss and looking ahead to her next great moment.
“I guess in tennis you will get heartbreaking losses, and you don't have any other option,” she said. “You just have to move on and try to play good next time.”
