Humbled Anisimova should take comfort from experience of Natasha Zvereva

Zvereva bounced back well from her double bagel by Steffi Graf at Roland-Garros in 1988 and became the best doubles player in the world

If Amanda Anisimova is looking for reasons to be positive after the harshness of her first Grand Slam final, then she could do worse than look at the experience of Natasha Zvereva, until Saturday, the only player in the Open era to suffer a 6-0, 6-0 defeat in a Grand Slam final.

The American was understandably emotional after her double bagel against Iga Swiatek in the final at Wimbledon, but spoke well and promised to bounce back strongly.

Anisimova has plenty of reasons to be optimistic, of course. She played brilliantly on grass, reaching the Queen’s final before going all the way to the final at Wimbledon, her first in a major. The American’s fighting spirit and ball-striking were equally impressive, especially in her semi-final win over Aryna Sabalenka.

Despite the loss, Amanda Anisimova's journey has been incredible.

🎾 Announced mental health break in May 2023

🎾 Lost in 2024 Wimbledon qualifying ranked No. 189

🎾 Won first WTA 1000 title in February 2025

🎾 2025 Wimbledon finalist

🎾 Will make WTA Top-10 debut in Monday's… pic.twitter.com/8z4N8cYfno — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 12, 2025

Zvereva enjoyed superb career in singles and doubles

But the experience of Zvereva in 1988 would also be worth her looking at.

In 1988, Zvereva was just 17 when she reached the final at Roland-Garros, stunning Martina Navratilova on her way. The Belarusian – playing under the Soviet Union flag at the time – also took out Helena Sukova but was hammered by a rampant Graf, who, of course, was in the middle of her golden slam year, when she won all four majors and the Olympics.

It was a humbling experience for Zvereva and could have scarred her for life. But it didn’t. In fact, she went on to reach at least the quarter-finals of all four slams, and made the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1998, beating Graf in the fourth round before losing in three sets to the eventual runner-up Nathalie Tauziat.

Zvereva also became a brilliant doubles player, winning 80 titles in all, her partnership with Gig Fernandez one of the best of all time. She won 18 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles and two in mixed.

no real hangover after ZVEREVA’S humbling

It’s also worth looking at what Zvereva did in the immediate aftermath of her 6-0, 6-0 defeat at Roland-Garros. Always good on grass, she reached the final of her very next tournament, in Eastbourne, and made the last 16 at Wimbledon.

On hard courts in North America, she then beat Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver back to back to reach the final in Canada, losing out to Gabriela Sabatini in the final. She lost in the first round at the US Open but made another final, in Worcester (beating Chris Evert along the way) and qualified for the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships, reaching the quarters of the knock-out event.

So in terms of results, there was very little negative impact on Zvereva’s career from that Roland-Garros defeat. Anisimova was right to emphasise the positives in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s loss, the American having never imagined she would make a slam final just a year after returning from a six-month break for mental health reasons.

Radwanska: Don

Radwanska: Don’t dwell on the loss

Agnieszka Radwanska, who was the last Pole to make a final here in 2012, said the key for Anisimova was to remember the good things she did on her way to the final.

“Obviously I really feel for Amanda today,” Radwanska told a small group of reporters. “You could really see she was suffering after the match as well, she felt so bad.

“But well done for her, she made the final here for the first time, and she beat Sabalenka in the semi-final. So I think it was still a great result for her. Hopefully she’ll not be thinking about the result for a long time.”

The best tennis players are great at forgetting bad losses, focusing on the good things and moving ahead. Short-term memory loss is a real strength, but if she needs some inspiration, Anisimova can at least look at Zverev and see what can be done.

Anisimova: “I’ll definitely come out stronger after this”

The American will be ranked a career-high No 7 now, which will ensure her some more favourable draws, in theory, and on hard courts, she should be a real threat. There are also many areas she can improve on and the way she spoke afterwards bodes well for her chances.

“I told myself, I’ll definitely come out stronger after this,” she said. “I mean, that’s not an easy thing to go through, losing 0 and 0 in a Grand Slam final. (But) if anything, I can look at it as a positive and something I can look at as motivation going forward. Obviously there’s a lot of things I need to do to progress.”

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