If you had suggested 12 months ago to either Iga Swiatek or Amanda Anisimova that they would roll back up at Wimbledon this year and contest today’s ladies’ singles final, they would have laughed you off the court.
Swiatek, such a rare champion on clay and hard courts, was going through the same old debrief after a third round loss, interrogated over why she’d fallen short of her lofty standards on the Wimbledon grass.
“Not positive obviously…I felt like I underachieved a little bit…mentally, I didn't really do that well in this tournament,” she sighed.
But her dismay didn’t match that of Anisimova, who didn’t even get to Wimbledon, her progress halted when beaten by Germany’s Eva Lys in the third round of Qualifying.
“Heartbreaking,” she reflected, a sign that eight months after returning from a badly-needed break from the game, she still had a long way to go.
Yet here we are a year later, with both players looking and feeling like they belong on the lawns, playing with a swagger and self-belief that makes them believe they can win the biggest title of all. Either would be a worthy champion.
Nobody’s hit the ball sweeter all Fortnight than these two; Anisimova out-smote the mighty smiter Aryna Sabalenka like few can. Swiatek gave Belinda Bencic a lesson that few could.
And now history beckons. Imagine if Swiatek, already a national hero, became the first Polish player to win a singles title here. Just think of the sheer improbability of Anisimova, a 2023 burn-out victim, becoming the 2025 champion.
Anisimova, frankly, can’t credit it. “A lot of people told me that you would never make it to the top again if you take so much time away from the game.”
"Just me being able to prove you can get back to the top if you prioritise yourself has been incredibly special to me.”
At 23, Anisimova’s journey from wunderkind (a semi-finalist at Roland-Garros at just 17) to wilderness to Wimbledon final has been her “roller-coaster”, but now with her family in tow here, headed by her little scene-stealing nephew Jaxon, she’s just having a ball.
Swiatek too. Whether it’s her strawberries ’n pasta - “On the same plate?…er, okay,” was Martina Navratilova’s considered verdict - or the feeling of pressure lifted after her Roland-Garros dethronement, she’s found the balls talking to her on the grass at last. And obeying her.
Just me being able to prove you can get back to the top if you prioritise yourself has been incredibly special to me.
It feels like she’s been around so much longer, such is the weight of her achievements, yet she’s just three months older than Anisimova.
They haven’t played in the senior ranks but did meet as 15-year-olds in the Junior Fed Cup, when Swiatek won in straight sets.
Indeed, since the kid from Warsaw first won the Wimbledon girls’ title here in 2018, she’s been a benchmark setter for quality in the women’s game.
After that girls’ Wimbledon triumph, the 17-year-old Swiatek reflected wide-eyed that it was a day on No.1 Court that changed her. “This is why I play tennis, to make the show, to make people clap, to make them enjoy. I feel like that's my goal, to entertain. I think I learned it today. I didn't know about it. That's new for me.”
She’s been entertaining us ever since, but it only comes off the back of prodigious preparation. “I don’t believe in magic,” she’s always said, “I believe in the power of hard work.” Even Anisimova calls that attitude an inspiration.
And that rigour is carrying her ever closer to greatness. Victory today would make her the youngest woman since Serena Williams to win Grand Slam singles titles on all three surfaces. It will take a special effort in a special showdown to stop her.
On this finals Saturday, there are other treats to savour, with the prospect of some British champions being crowned.
First up on Centre: a terrific, curtain-raising gentlemen’s doubles final between Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash – the first all-British duo to reach the final in 65 years - and the Dutch-Australian pairing of David Pel and Rinky Hijikata.
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid go for a seventh wheelchair doubles title against Spain’s Martin de la Puente and Dutchman Ruben Spaargaren. Elsewhere, Japan’s Yui Kamiji chases the one Grand Slam title missing from her illustrious CV, facing off against China’s Ziying Wang.
It's a big day too for eight-year-old Lydia Lowe, who will perform the coin toss ahead of the ladies’ wheelchair singles final, representing the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust, a charity supporting people with disabilities who play tennis.
So too for Sophie Kneen, 12, who will undertake the same duties for the ladies’ singles final, representing AFC Wimbledon Foundation and their efforts to increase female participation in sport. What an occasion to be part of.