Wimbledon witnessed the ultimate coronation as Poland’s Iga Swiatek, already a five-time Grand Slam champion, raised the Venus Rosewater Dish in majestic triumph. And how did she seize it? With a ruthless double bagel demolition of Amanda Anisimova, delivering tennis so pure and punishing that it redefined excellence on grass. Her performance was nothing short of flawless, so much so that former US Open champion Andy Roddick couldn’t help but draw a striking parallel. As he assessed Swiatek’s supremacy at SW19, he likened her dominance to none other than Coco Gauff’s glory in 2024. Surprised to read that? You won’t be after discovering what he said next.

Iga Swiatek’s year was anything but smooth, a journey through fire, pressure, and brutal self-confrontation. Just thirteen months ago, she stood tall in Paris as a five-time Grand Slam champion, hailed as an unstoppable force with a 37-match winning streak in 2022. But then came a storm. A one-month suspension and the shadow it cast stole her momentum. She lost tournaments, her No. 1 spot to Aryna Sabalenka, and even her invincibility. Though she nearly reached the AO final and made six deep runs in major tournaments, those familiar, painful exits to eventual champions exposed cracks in her game. 

Her Madrid meltdown, tears falling at the changeover as Coco Gauff ripped her apart, was a haunting image. Then came Danielle Collins, then Sabalenka, who dropped a bagel in Paris, ending Iga’s reign with cruel finality.

But it’s in the ruins that reinvention begins. The weight of defending Roland Garros became too heavy a burden. Yet somehow, Swiatek flipped the script on grass, a surface she once feared. Andy Roddick now makes an interesting comparison, implying Iga’s loss of her title in Paris may have been a turning point. raw and relentless in her. 

On a recent episode of his “Served” podcast, former US Open champion Andy Roddick peeled back the layers behind Iga Swiatek’s Wimbledon masterclass and drew a compelling parallel to Coco Gauff’s own journey through pressure, expectation, and redemption. “I think this is probably more anecdotal and maybe something you know it’s a little half-baked, but you saw Coco win the US Open, and then expectations set in, and then we talked about it on our show,” Roddick began. “She doesn’t defend the US Open, plays a very tight match, loses to Emma Navarro, and then it’s like okay, I don’t have to defend that huge thing anymore, right? I don’t have to like protect what is mine, what trophy is sitting on my mantle this year.”

Roddick didn’t stop there. He saw something deeper, a psychological shift, a release of tension that reignited Gauff’s fire. “And she goes and plays well in Asia. She goes plays well in the World Tour finals. I wonder if Iga needed to get through that French Open for a full reset, right? It’s like I’m eight. This is my new reality. This is like I’m actually attacking the field now instead of protecting myself from the field,” he continued.

He also acknowledged that a champion’s resurgence rarely comes from just one switch flipping. “I think all of—and there’s no one answer. It could be a little bit of that. It could be a little bit of grass preparation. It could be a little bit of something just clicking. It could be a little bit of, you know, strategic. Am I hitting, you know, more shots on this side, on this side? It was obvious she was going after her serve more.”

And then, with a touch of biting truth, he nailed the tendency of sports narratives to oversimplify. “So, it’s not just one thing, and we’re going to be lazy and try to make it one thing, right? And there’s going to be a dominant storyline,” Roddick added, dismissing the media’s craving for clean-cut conclusions.

For context, Gauff’s arc in 2024 echoed that theory. After crashing out of the US Open in a stunning fourth-round loss to Emma Navarro, riddled with 19 double faults, 11 in the final set alone, she bore the crushing weight of expectation. But once the burden slipped away, she lit up Asia. A commanding title at the China Open, followed by a resounding triumph at the WTA Finals in November, crowned her comeback. The youngest WTA Finals champion since Sharapova in 2004, Gauff silenced every doubt.

Now, Andy Roddick sees that same story arc unfolding for Swiatek. Like Coco, Iga had to shed the need to “defend” and instead rediscover how to attack, fearlessly, freely. And while that comparison resonates, Swiatek herself isn’t staying silent either. Following her emphatic win at Wimbledon, the Polish star is finally speaking her truth.

Iga Swiatek opens up after her win at Wimbledon

In just 57 blistering minutes, Iga Swiatek delivered a Wimbledon masterclass, marking only the second double bagel Grand Slam singles final in Open Era history. The Pole’s ruthless 6-0, 6-0 dismantling of Amanda Anisimova sealed not only her maiden title on grass but also her 6th Grand Slam triumph, extending her flawless record in major finals to 6-0. The historic win makes Swiatek the first Polish player ever to clinch a Wimbledon singles crown in the Open Era and brings her tally to 100 career Grand Slam match victories, now standing tall at 100-20 since her 2019 debut.

She didn’t just win, she rewrote records. Swiatek stamped her name alongside legends with the first 6-0 opening set in a Wimbledon women’s singles final since Martina Navratilova crushed Andrea Jaeger in 1983. The echoes go back even further to the mid-70s, where Billie Jean King laid the groundwork with her 6-0, 7-5 win over a young Chris Evert in 1973. History was not just created, it was reclaimed.

And moments after hoisting the Venus Rosewater Dish, Swiatek shared her emotions with raw honesty. “I’m just appreciating every minute. I’m just proud of myself because, yeah, who would have expected that?” she said, reflecting on her rise through a year of trials and turbulence.

“For sure it’s a lot, especially after a season with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of expectations from the outside that I didn’t really match winning Wimbledon,” she added. “I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself.”

With the women’s final now etched in history, attention shifts to Centre Court once more, where the men’s titans prepare to write their own epic. Follow it live, moment by moment, with EssentiallySports’ Live Blog coverage.