Just twelve months ago, Amanda Anisimova’s run at SW19 ended in tears after Iga Swiatek beat her in the championship match. This year looked different as the world No. 6 stormed to the opening set against Madison Keys in the third round and seemed ready for redemption. But her game unraveled after that bright start, and Keys hit back hard; in the end, the 24-year-old was left with another painful defeat and tears of disappointment.

“I feel like I’m doing everything I can and working really hard,” Anisimova said in her post-match press conference. “So for my game to still be at this point, it’s really hard to digest and take. It’s almost like I’m playing at a 125,000 level, not Wimbledon. That’s what I was saying to my coaches earlier,” she explained.

“For me, it wasn’t enjoyable to play out there today with my tennis being like that. It was really, really tough. And when I’m happy, and I’m enjoying it, it’s when I’m able to play my tennis. But when I’m not able to make one forehand in the court, it’s really, really hard. I need to go home and take some time and figure out how I can fix this,” she later added.

That disappointment came after a two-time Grand Slam finalist won the opening set of her 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat to the 2025 Australian Open champion. But once the match turned in Keys’ favor, the former world No. 3 struggled badly to find control on her groundstrokes.

The defeat felt even harsher because of what she had achieved not long ago. Last year, the 24-year-old reached the SW19 final, where she lost to Iga Swiatek.

However, she backed that up with another major final run at the US Open, where she lost against current top seed Aryna Sabalenka. Those results suggested she was ready to stay among the very best.

Yet, this year, though, the American has not been able to repeat that level. Injuries to her back and wrist have disrupted her season until SW19. Even before playing this tournament, Anisimova had played only 3 tournaments since the Miami Open in March.

She first withdrew from the Credit One Charleston Open in late March after sustaining an undisclosed injury in Miami. Two weeks later, she pulled out of the Mutua Madrid Open with a wrist injury, before also withdrawing from Rome due to a left wrist issue.

And after this latest defeat against a fellow American, even former players pointed to her forehand as the main reason behind the collapse.

Tracy Austin identifies the forehand as a key weakness for Anisimova

Yesterday, Anisimova’s forehand, in particular, completely let her down. In total, the former world No. 3 made 42 unforced errors against Keys. Out of those, 27 came off the forehand side alone, underlining just how badly that shot broke down. 

Even former world No. 1 Tracy Austin pointed to the same issue while commentating on the BBC. “Anisimova will be disappointed with her forehand today. But there have been a couple of months in the spring where she did not get to play, so not as many reps as she would like,” Austin added. 

That assessment about the forehand matched what Anisimova herself admitted after the match. “It’s been a really rough few months trying to find my game and obviously struggling with my forehand a lot lately. Just something that I’m still trying to figure out,” Anisimova added in the emotional post-match press conference.

As for Anisimova, her third-round SW19 exit only makes the situation more serious. Now, the next stretch of the season becomes especially important and stressful for the American ace as she will be defending a huge amount of ranking points at the upcoming US Open.

With the tour now shifting gradually to the American hard courts, the big question is how Anisimova responds. The next few weeks should show whether she can steady her game and bounce back.