“I’ll come out stronger”: Amanda Anisimova reflects after brutal Wimbledon final loss 

After a brutal day at the office, Amanda Anisimova is choosing to focus on the positives from her Grand Slam final run.

The American appeared shell-shocked on Saturday, after being handed a 6-0, 6-0 loss by Iga Swiatek in the most lopsided Wimbledon final in recent memory.

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“It was a bit tough to digest, obviously, especially during and right after. It's not how I would have wanted my first Grand Slam final to go,” a subdued Anisimova said in her post-match press conference. “I think I was a little bit in shock after, as well…”

The No. 13 seed admitted she felt “a bit frozen with my nerves” against the experienced Swiatek, who has never lost a major final and secured her sixth Grand Slam title with the win.

Playing in her first major final, Anisimova also said she was physically drained after a grueling fortnight. She looked low on energy even in the warm-up, struggled to find her serve, and couldn’t keep up with Swiatek in the rallies throughout the 54-minute match.

“I told myself, I'll definitely come out stronger after this. I mean, that's not an easy thing to go through, losing 0-0 in a Grand Slam final,” Anisimova reflected afterward.

“If anything, I can look at it as a positive and something I can look at as motivation going forward. Obviously there's a lot of things I need to do to progress.”

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Anisimova previously reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2019 as a 17-year-old, but her momentum stalled after the sudden death of her father later that year. Struggles with mental health led her to take a break from tennis in 2023. On Saturday, she broke down in tears while thanking her mom for making the rare trip to watch her play in person.

"My mom is the most selfless person I know, and she's done everything to get me to this point in my life… Thank you for being here and breaking the superstition of flying in,” Anisimova said in her runner-up speech, before adding with a chuckle, "It's definitely not why I lost today."

Q. Your post-match speech was quite memorable and moving. What were your thoughts as you were about to give that speech, and what was it like to do it?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, I mean, I was getting so overwhelmed with emotion. I think I was just trying to hold it together, honestly.

It was such a big moment. I was trying to remind myself, like, this is an incredible moment, to not try and let that go and get overwhelmed by all the feelings I was feeling. So I tried to keep it together and swallow all the tears and just speak from my heart really. There were a lot of things that I wanted to say. I felt like my speech was pretty long.

But yeah, I just wanted to really take advantage of the moment that I had, and try to forget what had just transpired the previous hour and just kind of acknowledge everything that I've done the last two weeks and all the people that have helped me get there.

And there’s plenty to acknowledge. Just a year ago, Anisimova was ranked No. 189 and lost in the third round of Wimbledon qualifying as she worked her way back from her tennis hiatus. On Monday, she’ll rise to a new career-high ranking of world No. 7.

But for now, her priority is recovery.

“Just being surrounded by people I love. I obviously have a lot of family here. I'm really fortunate that they're all here, especially in times like this,” Anisimova said.

“Just receiving all the comfort I can tonight will be super helpful. I'm just excited to get a few days off and turn my mind off of everything and just spend a lot of time with my family and friends. So that will be nice.

“I don't really care where we go or what we eat!”