Amanda made it, she won! And she did exactly what she had to, in order to win: she didn’t allow herself a slow start and she hammered from the beginning her younger opponent. The age gap between the two was evident, since Amanda was precise, powerful, neat and more concentrated than Nadal. Cori just couldn’t handle it; she made too many mistakes: she was trying to hit harder and harder, but it’s difficult to break down Anisimova. Things started to slip from Gauff’s hands from the beginning, and the first set was over in 21 minutes: 6-0 in favour of the “older” American.
The second set was a bit more of a struggle between the two and it was quite funny. Anisimova was leading by 3-1 and 40-15 and Gauff maybe mentally was a bit broken: she was just hitting the ball everywhere in anger. Then, a couple of shots from Gauff landed in the pitch and she equalised to 40-40: Amanda had a very easy forehand to close the following point when, suddenly, a horn blew (!) from outside the stadium and made Anisimova miss the point. She was great in finding the funny side of the event, regain immediately her concentration and win the following point even if, if I remember correctly, she eventually lost the game, so that, thanks to the blowing horn, the match was virtually reopened. Also a few games later Amanda left her opponent a couple of further chances to break, but in both cases she was great in never allowing Gauff to make her way back into the match (thanks to few mistakes by Gauff and many winners by herself). Funnily enough, it occurred 11 or 12 match points for Amanda to win the well-deserved trophy, wrapping up the final with the score of 6-0 6-2.
We have spoken a lot on Anisimova in the last days and I want now to draw the attention on her opponent, whom I managed, finally, to watch: she is only 13 and there was no chance she could win against today’s Anisimova. But I liked her a lot, especially from a mental side. She hits rockets and she is able to break 110 mph with her first serve; both baseline shots can be violent. Gauff was criticised a bit by commentators because she just tried to hit hard throughout the match, without attempting anything different to try to imbalance her inspired opponent. It’s all true but, honestly, Gauff couldn’t just do it: this girl is so young, she was playing a Slam final in front of televisions. What else could she have done if not to rely on her usual game, grounded indeed on power? I think nothing. Gauff obtained a few points by trying to lift more her first serve and I appreciated this: I take it as a sign that, mentally, she is present when playing. Furthermore, Cori was in the process of being severely punished in front of the world: in the first set there was no game between the two; nonetheless, in the second set, even if she gave signs of frustration hitting several meaningless super-powerful shots (which landed metres out), she never gave up and she was even able to create for herself a couple of chances, whenever her rival’s game lowered just an inch. Finally, Gauff was able to play her best tennis in the last game of the match, even if she was down 6-0 5-2; she anyway managed to give a hard time to Amanda (who, of course, made also some mistakes) to close the match: when facing match points, Gauff hit an ace and magnificent winners. Isn’t that toughness? And again all prices to Anisimova, who never allowed her stubborn rival to reopen the match.
I want to close this with few more considerations on Amanda: following the commentators’ critiques on her forehand during the semi-finals match, I focused more on this shot, and I think it looks a bit weird because her follow through is often low; seldom she finishes the execution above her shoulders. But, really, her forehand works well, even if I still prefer her backhand.
From a general point of view, the more I see this girl playing, the more I like her. Today, against a 3 year younger opponent, she was forced to win, which is never an easy situation to handle; as said, Amanda was magnificent in not allowing Gauff a chance. She double faulted a lot during the match, but I had the impression that this was due to her decision to hit a second ball harder than usual, in order not to allow Gauff to hit any winner and, possibly, gain confidence. Amanda did what she had to: she just killed the match right at the beginning, avoiding any possible trouble.
But, even more, I really enjoyed (again) her behaviour on the court: when she missed her forehand due to the blow of the horn, it was the chance for Gauff to come back. Amanda had a great laugh, asked if the umpire could do anything about it and, at his denial (the horn was blown outside the court), she didn’t protest at all, just went back to serve and win the following point. Further, in the last game of the match, the match point following one that Gauff saved by hitting an amazing winner with her backhand, Gauff mishit a bit her backhand return: it was clear that Amanda was waiting the ball to go out; instead, it hit the line: Amanda smiled as the ball landed in and of course she missed the following shot. I really had the impression that when she saw her opponent’s ball was good she thought “ok, I really can’t wrap this up”. Amanda showed a bit of frustration only when, on the 8th or 9th match point, in her favour, she badly missed a forehand; that’s all. I found this girl really pleasant to watch throughout the tournament and I am happy she won it. And, guys, Amanda is not only enjoyable to watch, she is also a heck of a good player. And guess what: in this match i’ve seen also a couple of slices and magnificent drop shots by her!!
