Strawberries and dreams: ‘Surprised’ Swiatek cooks up Wimbledon history

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Cuisine-themed supremacy swept the grounds of Wimbledon this summer as Iga Swiatek earned her promotion from sous to executive chef in her long-awaited emergence on grass.

First had been the revelation of her go-to strawberry pasta dish (coupled with yoghurt?!!) to baffle the Panama hats off of the champagne-popping All England spectators.

The second course was equal in obscurity as bagels joined the menu, Swiatek scorching Amanda Anisimova on Saturday as the first woman to win a Wimbledon final 6-0 6-0 since 1911.

Courtney Cox was there for her, minus the rain to pour. So too were her team, the Princess of Wales, and a packed Centre Court crowd to witness a 57-minute clinic as she translated hard and clay Grand Slam success onto the famous greens of SW19. At long last.

“I’m going to go with something more crazy than pasta and strawberries, but I don’t know,” she said of her celebration plans. “I heard I have two hours of media. First, I’m going to focus on that. Then we’ll see.

“I don’t know what the team and my family are up to. They’ve already been celebrating for two hours. They’re at a different stage, I would say.”

Victory saw Swiatek lift the Venus Rosewater Dish on her first appearance in a Wimbledon final, while taking her Grand Slam title tally to six and Grand Slam wins to 100, as well as making her the first Polish man or woman to win a Wimbledon singles title in the Open Era, and meaning she is the second player in the Open Era to win a women’s singles Grand Slam final with a ‘double bagel’ after Steffi Graf at Roland Garros 1988.

“It’s something that is just surreal,” she explained. “I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself.

“I’m really happy with the whole process, how it looked like from the first day we stepped on a grass court.

“I feel like we did everything for it to go in that direction without expecting it, just working really hard. It means a lot, and it gives me a lot of experience. I don’t even know. I’m just happy.”

The Wimbledon surface has rarely presented itself as a tailored hunting ground for Swiatek, in contrast to joy elsewhere evidenced by four French Open titles, a US Open crown and semi-final outings at the Australian Open.

But her fortunes flipped over two weeks in which she lost just 35 games on her way to victory, including only two during the semi-finals and final.

“I think the fact that it’s on grass, for sure it makes it more special, I would say, and more unexpected,” she said.

“So for sure, it feels like the emotions are bigger because on Roland Garros I know I can play well, and I know I can, like, show it every year. Here, I wasn’t sure of that. I also needed to prove that to myself.

“I worked really hard to win all the other slams. So there’s no point in choosing between them. But this one and the US Open for sure feel like just, I don’t know, better because no one expected that.

“It wasn’t a relief. It was more of just good tennis and working to make it happen, yeah, without this baggage on your shoulders.”

There was a robotic resemblance to the Polish eighth seed at times, such was the ease with which she applied the blinkers, such was the comfort and the unwavering laser focus with which she out-thought, out-composed and out-struck Anisimova. She has been here before, she will be there again.

“I think tennis is a mental sport, but also you need everything to win tournaments, like good tennis, good physicality, being also not tired, have good matches before so you don’t spend too much time on the court, having great focus,” she continued.

“Obviously the finals are sometimes, when I watched other players playing, I could see the difference in the level. Finals sometimes are a bit ugly because there’s so much stress and everything. I kind of used the experience from before.

“Today I just wanted to enjoy the time that I had on the Centre Court and enjoy the last hours of me playing well on grass ’cause who knows if it’s going to happen again (smiling). I just focused on that and I really had fun. Obviously I was stressed, as anybody would be. But I wanted to just do my job, and that’s it.”

Anisimova primed to battle back

With Anisimova’s mistakes came repeated murmurs of ‘ooh la la’ from nearby French journalists, who, like everybody, could hardly believe the American’s gut-wrenching stumble.

By the end she had posted 28 unforced errors, five double faults and a first serve win percentage of just 26 in the face of a rampant Swiatek built to feast on any sign of inferiority or struggle.

The 23-year-old admitted afterwards she had been ‘frozen’ with nerves, the extent of which had completely disarmed the talent and fire responsible for derailing world No 1 – and seemingly runaway favourite – Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.

“It’s not how I would have wanted my first Grand Slam final to go,” said Anisimova.

“I think I was a little bit in shock after, as well. But 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.

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

Sure, the enormity of a first Grand Slam final got to Anisimova, but it did so while tasked with taming a Swiatek who has looked unstoppable over the last two weeks.

It was a cruel conclusion to a fortnight that had otherwise amplified Anisimova’s valiant return to prominence and contention since stepping away from the sport in 2023 in order to look after her mental health.

As the scorching July sun beamed down, as the presence of star-studded eyes thickened the Centre Court suffocation customary to tennis’ most prestigious final, and as Swiatek hunted with no mercy, Anisimova was the latest and certainly not the last to endure the ultimate lesson on a stage that could yet springboard her career for the better.

“I feel like the last two weeks, if anything, I’ve learned it was you’re never going to be perfect, and every match is different,” she said.

“I think that I sensed myself getting down on myself. When I look at certain players like Jannik (Sinner) or Carlos (Alcaraz), who I look up to a lot, they don’t make easy mistakes and don’t give almost anything to their opponents.

“In a sense, I was looking at certain things from that perspective, but then I also reminded myself, nobody’s perfect. I was trying to go into today thinking that, Okay, I’ll accept the mistakes I make. Maybe that wasn’t the right way of going into it (smiling).

“My fighting spirit has gotten me to the final today. It wasn’t me playing perfect in a way. There were matches where I struggled and I wasn’t playing to my full potential. I think me just staying focused and fighting my way through certain moments and focusing and also lifting myself up and trying not to get negative on myself was the most important thing.”

During her press conference, she was reminded of a quote she had previously referenced by American author Marianne Williamson.

“Pain can burn you up and destroy you, or burn you up and redeem you.”

It was a sentiment she sought to embrace in the immediate aftermath of her defeat, as much proving a glaring reminder to not only herself but everybody of the mental strength acquired since her break from the sport.

“It’s definitely something that I try to live by also. I’ve passed on that quote a few times,” she said.

“For sure, as I said earlier, when I got back to the locker room, I kind of had that switch in my mind of, You know what, this is probably going to make you stronger in the end and to not really dig myself down or put myself down after today and just try and focus on how I can come out stronger after this.

“I think it’s honestly, like, a fork in the road. It’s whatever direction you want to go in. I’m going to choose the path of working towards my goals and to try and keep improving, hopefully put myself in more positions and opportunities like today.

“I think that’s going to help me reach my goals.”

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