Polish star wins sixth major and first at SW19
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFTTrophyless since last year’s Roland-Garros and seeded an unfamiliar No.8 at Wimbledon, Iga Swiatek showed the world once again that form is temporary, but class is indeed permanent.
In front of a star-studded audience at the All England Club, Swiatek silenced her doubters with a ruthless 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Amanda Anisimova in a major final that lasted just 57 minutes.
The victory earned Swiatek a sixth Grand Slam title and a first on the lawns of SW19 – where she triumphed as a junior in girls’ singles seven years ago.
The 24-year-old Pole maintained her perfect record in major finals and notched the 100th Grand Slam match-win of her career from 120 contested, making Swiatek the fastest to reach that milestone since Serena Williams claimed her 100th win in her 116th match at a major in 2004.
Despite being a Wimbledon junior champion, Swiatek never really felt or believed she could play well on grass.
This season, after Aryna Sabalenka ended her Roland-Garros title defence in the semi-finals, Swiatek took a few days off before she flew to Mallorca and kicked off a week of training on the grass on June 12.
Two weeks later, she reached her first tour-level grass-court final in Bad Homburg and arrived at Wimbledon feeling better about her game on the surface, but still free of the expectations that usually weigh her down at the other majors.
As she navigated her draw, ousting the likes of Danielle Collins, Liudmila Samsonova and Belinda Bencic, Swiatek reached her first Wimbledon final dropping just one set – to Caty McNally – en route.
She then put together a flawless performance against first-time major finalist Anisimova to become the only active player to win Grand Slams on three different surfaces.
Swiatek instantly grinned when she was introduced as the “Wimbledon ladies singles champion” at the start of her press conference.
“It sounds amazing. Pretty surreal,” she said.
“I'm just appreciating every minute. I'm just proud of myself because, yeah, who would have expected that?”
The first Polish player to win the Wimbledon title in the Open Era, Swiatek has faced a great deal of criticism from her national press over the past few months, as they questioned her decision-making throughout her one-year title drought.
She let her racquet do the talking at Wimbledon and gets to walk away with the prestigious Venus Rosewater Dish.
“For sure it means a lot, especially after a season with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of expectations from the outside that I didn't really match,” said Swiatek, who will return to No.3 in the world on Monday.
“Winning Wimbledon, it's something that is just surreal. 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.”
Swiatek made sure to pay tribute to Anisimova, who actually started her Wimbledon campaign with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Yulia Putintseva and ousted the top-seeded Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
“I want to congratulate Amanda for an amazing two weeks, no matter what happened today, you should be proud of the work you’re doing,” said Swiatek.
“I hope we’re going to play many more finals here and other tournaments, you have the game for that.”
Speaking later of her mindset during the final, Swiatek said: “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 because who knows if it's going to happen again. I just focused on that and I really had fun.”
Anisimova had a rough day but won the hearts of many fans with her poignant speech during the trophy ceremony.
The 23-year-old has had an inspirational journey, which saw her return from an eight-month mental health break from tennis last year and now reach the Wimbledon final.
Anisimova will make her top-10 debut on Monday, rising to No.7 in the world rankings.
Speaking to reporters after the final, Anisimova said: “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.
“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's a lot of things I need to do to progress.”
There is a quote Anisimova is a big fan of, from the American author Marianne Williamson.
It says, “Pain can burn you up and destroy you, or burn you up and redeem you”.
“I love that quote,” Anisimova said on Saturday.
“It's definitely something that I try to live by also.
“For sure 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 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.”
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
