LONDON (AP) — Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek have started play in the Wimbledon women’s final on Saturday, with Kate, the Princess of Wales, sitting in the Royal Box. Kate was scheduled to take part in the trophy ceremony afterward.
LONDON (AP) —Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatekhave started play in theWimbledonwomen’s final on Saturday, with Kate, the Princess of Wales, sitting in the Royal Box.
Katewas scheduled to take part in the trophy ceremony afterward.
Whoever wins Saturday will be the eighth consecutive first-time Wimbledon champion.
The title match at Centre Courtis the first for Anisimova, a 23-year-old American, at any Grand Slam tournament.
Swiatek, a 24-year-old from Poland, already owns five such trophies, going 5-0 in major finals,but never had been this faron the grass courts of the All England Club. She’s beenthe champion on the French Open’s red clayfour times and on the U.S. Open’s hard courts once.
Anisimova and Swiatek never had played each other as pros.
Swiatek spent most of 2022, 2023 and 2024 at No. 1 in the WTA rankings but is seeded No. 8 at Wimbledon after going more than a year without claiming a title anywhere.She served a one-month doping ban last yearafter failing an out-of-competition drug test; an investigation determined she was inadvertently exposed to a contaminated medical product used for trouble sleeping and jet lag.
Anisimova, who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Florida, was a semifinalist at age 17 at the 2019 French Open.
She took time away from the tour a little more than two years agobecause of burnout. A year ago, she tried to qualify for Wimbledon, because her ranking of 189th was too low to get into the field automatically, but lost in the preliminary event.
Anisimova will break into the top 10 in the rankings for the first time next week, no matter what happens Saturday.
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Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press