Saturday, July 12, 2025

Swiatek opens new bakery in London, complete with large plate

At Wimbledon, people eat strawberries and cream. Except for Iga Swiatek--Iga eats strawberries with pasta. However, strawberries on a bagel may be the next trend: At long last, the now-six time major champion opened one of her famous bakeries in London. Probably no one was prepared, however, for the flashy significance of this act--Swiatek won the Wimbledon final by defeating her opponent, Amanda Anisimova, 6-0, 6-0. 

Not since Steffi Graf defeated Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 in the 1988 French Open final, has a woman served a double-bagel match in a major final. Zvereva, seeded 13th, had upset 2nd seed Martina Navratiilova in the round of 16. Anisimova, seeded 13th, had upset world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. This demonstrates not only that context is important, but also that--in tennis--the past is the past. Whoever you defeated in the last match or whatever point you just played are now history.

Winning long, challenging matches in a draw is a double-edged sword. A player gains a lot of confidence from such a win (or wins), but the player's body, including her mental resources, can also just fade away--I've seen this happen several heartbreaking times. It was clear, from the beginning of the championship match, that Anisimova's resources were not what they had been earlier in the tournament. Add to that the fact that this was her first major final, which has to be very stressful. And add to that the fact that her opponent was on a tear such as we haven't seen from her in a while. 

The match lasted under an hour, and, during that time, Swiatek could do almost no wrong, while Anisimova could do little that was right. Anisimova had first and second serve win percentages of 26 and 35, which says it all. She also made 28 unforced errors and hit only six winners. It didn't even appear to be Anisimova on the court, but rather, a slim shadow of the woman who had knocked out Linda Noskova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka. 

Swiatek, as is her way, dictated play from the first moment, and her newly improved serve was on display throughout the match. The Polish star got 78% of her first serves in, and 72% of those were winning serves. Swiatek's victory gives her six wins in six major finals; she is the first tennis player from Poland to win a major singles championship. And to make all this even more dramatic, today's final marked Swiatek's 100th major match victory.

For several years, it's been clear to both Swiatek and tennis observers that the four-time French Open champion likes the clay because it gives her time to set up her shots. Swiatek won Wimbledon as a junior, but--as she pointed out in press the other day--by the time the juniors took to the court, the grass had worn down considerably--it was a surface that she liked. And while many wrote her off as a potential Wimbledon champion, Swiatek was on a mission. She hired coach Wim Fissette, who set about making some adjustments, which included improving Swiatek's serve (which hadn't been bad at all).

After the match, Swiatek told ESPN that people should "leave me alone," when it comes to her career goals and progress. Amen, sister. 

As for Anisimova--who was also smart enough not to listen to other people, and who chose the only path that she knew would save her career--does have some takeaways other than the terrible scoreline of the champoionship match. For one thing, she electrified the crowed throughout the tournament, and for another--she'll enter the top 10 next week.

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