Amanda Anisimova avenges a double-bagel Wimbledon final loss to Iga Swiatek: “Today proved everything for me”

NEW YORK—“It will test your head, and your brain, and your mind, too.”

That recklessly redundant sentence is how Dewey Finn, the wild-man teacher played by Jack Black in School of Rock, describes what being in a rock band is like, and what it will do for you.

On the surface, none of that would seem to have a whole lot to do with Amanda Anisimova’s run to her first US Open semifinal. But the movie has have been running through my mind as I’ve watched her advance through the tournament, and grow more self-assertive with each round.

The Finn character’s contention is that playing rock music is a path to self-realization. To do it right, you have to put yourself on the line, and out into the world. There’s no hiding or holding back. It’s true for tennis, too. If you want to do it well, you have to embrace every element—the competition, the performance, the risk of failure. There’s no hiding on a tennis court.

Anisimova has been playing tennis well for a long time, but only this season has she lived up to the potential that everyone has seen in her ball-striking since she was a teenager. She has always been of the purest hitters in the sport, but in the past she let nerves and doubts overwhelm her, and blew leads in matches she should have won. There was a sense, even when she was ahead, that she was waiting for something bad to happen.

So it was a little stunning to see Anisimova, in her one-sided win over Beatriz Haddad Maia in the fourth round on Monday night, put her palms upward and raise her hands to get the Ashe crowd to make more noise. Granted, she only did it a couple of times, very quickly, and she didn’t raise her hands above eye level. But I’d never seen the normally placid Floridian do anything that rah-rah before. More important, I’d also never seen her hit the ball with as much conviction and assurance. There was no hesitation or doubt in her swings, or in the way she carried herself between points.

This was an entirely different player from the one we had seen lose 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon a little less than two months ago. In fact, Anisimova looked like a woman who was out to make everyone forget about her Centre Court nightmare.

“I feel like I was really able to bounce back from it really quickly,” Anisimova said of her reaction to the loss. “Maybe a few years ago I wouldn’t have done the same as well as I have this time. I never lost 6-0, 6-0, and then to lose 6-0 in a Grand Slam final was a lot to experience.”

Still, what were the chances she could carry that same swagger into a quarterfinal rematch with Swiatek? Anisimova didn’t get off to a promising start on Wednesday, when she was broken in the opening game.

But that would be her only stumble. Instead of panicking or going negative, Anisimova changed sides and immediately went up 0-40 on Swiatek’s serve. When she hit a swing volley for a winner to break—and avoid any chance of another double bagel—the crowd let the New Jersey native that they were behind her, and they wanted her to put Wimbledon in the past, too.

From there, the two women traded baseline bombs, and Anisimova’s proved to be superior in pace, depth and placement. She rifled her returns, especially from the backhand side; hit the corners with her ground strokes; and rushed Swiatek on her forehand side. Anisimova was better when it mattered, too. She broke Swiatek at 4-5 to win the first set, and bounced back from an 0-2 start in the second. She had more winners (23 to 13) and fewer errors (12 to 15) than the No. 2 seed.

In the past, Anisimova might have seen her early second-set deficit as evidence that her first-set success was a fluke. This time, at 0-2, she gritted her way to a tough hold from 15-30 down, with strong serving. That seemed to give her her belief back, and she constantly reinforced it with fist-pumps, positive self-talk, and short chats with her coach the rest of the way. Anisimova’s misses seemed to surprise her, rather than confirm her fears.

“Today I’m just really, really proud of myself,” she said. “I feel like I really made a point to myself and also maybe to other people that if you really put a positive mindset out there or, I don’t know, just try and work through things, then, you know, you can have a positive outcome.”

“I feel like I was really supporting myself, which in turn, also helped me play better.”

Still, a little last-second luck never hurts. Anisimova looked sure of herself right up until she reached triple match point at 5-3. Then she sent a backhand long. Then she double faulted. Then, down to her last match point, she missed her first serve, and barely managed to spin her second one over the net and short in the court. When Swiatek’s return came back, Anisimova swung at a backhand, and watched it clip the tape and drop over for a winner.

We earn our luck, right? I think this quote from Anisimova is a pretty good summation of what she has learned about tennis and herself during this fortnight:

“When I started the tournament, I was kind of going into the matches with a little bit of fear and maybe holding back a bit,” she said. “As I’ve been progressing and playing more and more, I told myself, like, ‘You can’t go into the match with any fear,’ especially if I’m playing against top players.”

“It’s just not a negotiable for me, because if I want to win the match, I’m going to have to play really brave and strong tennis.”

“Today proved everything for me.”

Dewey Finn would be proud.