ANISIMOVA RETURNS TO WIMBLEDON AFTER GRAND SLAM FINAL DEFEAT

Amanda Anisimova will compete at Wimbledon this week seeking to improve on last year's result, when she lost 6-0 6-0 in the ladies' singles final to Iga Swiatek. The match lasted 57 minutes, with Anisimova failing to win a single game. According to Anisimova, nerves affected her performance in the final, which she described as having "frozen" her during play. The scoreline marked the first time such a result had occurred in a Wimbledon ladies' singles final since 1911.

Anisimova reached the final after defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in a match lasting two and a half hours. Six weeks after the Wimbledon loss, she reached a second successive Grand Slam final at the US Open, where she defeated Swiatek in the quarter-finals and two-time winner Naomi Osaka before reaching the final. Anisimova stated that managing her nerves and overcoming the psychological weight of the previous loss presented her greatest mental challenge during that period. The past year has brought further difficulties, including a parting of ways with her coach and a two-month absence from clay-court competition due to a left wrist injury.

Anisimova told the BBC at Queen's that she enters this year's Wimbledon "excited to play and be healthy again" following the wrist injury. Britain's Emma Raducanu, who has competed against Anisimova four times in the past eighteen months, noted improvements in her approach to competition. Raducanu stated that "the way she has been competing for the past year, even when things don't go her way, made a difference" to their recent encounters. Anisimova expressed hope of rewriting her Wimbledon story with a better outcome than her previous final appearance.