After Aryna Sabalenka highlighted her frustration with Amanda Anisimova’s antics during their Wimbledon semi-final clash, Clare Balding has offered her honest thoughts on the controversy
BBC presenter Clare Balding has defended Amanda Anisimova following criticism from Aryna Sabalenka after their Wimbledon semi-final match.
Anisimova stunned the World No. 1 by dispatching her 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach her first-ever Grand Slam final. However, much of the post-match conversation has been centred around an exchange between the players in the final set.
The incident occurred when Anisimova’s forehand clipped the top of the net and caught Sabalenka off guard, securing her the seventh game in the final set. In tennis, particularly at Wimbledon, there is an unwritten rule that players should acknowledge and apologise for such fortunate points, usually by raising their racket.
However, Anisimova chose to celebrate instead, which Sabalenka later admitted left her feeling “p***ed off”, believing an apology was in order. The Belarusian also accused Anisimova of prematurely celebrating another point earlier in the match, a claim the American has since denied.
Reflecting on the situation, Balding, who was speaking to Martina Navratilova and Anne Keothavong, said: “Obviously, players do quite often make an apology if they feel that in winning a point, they got lucky. But, I’m not sure in that particular point, Anisimova was lucky. I think she would have won the point, whether it touched the net or not.”
Navratilova concurred with Balding’s assessment when she replied: “Most of the time, you’re not even looking at your opponent when you lose the point.
“I don’t think Amanda was doing anything on purpose. I think she was just so concentrated on being on her side of the court and being right there to not get distracted or anything like that.
“Even when any other distractions were happening, she was right there. You could see she was really trying hard to concentrate and really didn’t want to break it. I think it was more that than anything else.”
Keothavong weighed in on the etiquette of the sport, saying: “Yeah, it’s a difficult one. The etiquette is to put your hand up and apologise if your ball touches the top of the net and goes over.
“But, equally, this is the semi-final of Wimbledon and you have got two fierce competitors out there desperate to win, throwing everything they have got at this match. In the heat of competition, you do not care how you win the point, you just win the point one way or the other. If a bit of luck goes your way, so be it, you’ve got to take it.”
Anisimova is set for a showdown with Iga Swiatek in the Centre Court final on Saturday, July 12. It is her best run in a Grand Slam since 2019, where she reached the semi-final of the French Open.
Despite some of the awkward moments, Anisimova praised her Belarusian counterpart. She said: “She’s such a tough player. I knew that I had to really dig deep and make as few mistakes as possible.
“So yeah, it’s really hard trying to have to play perfect tennis because that’s the only way to really get the win, but I feel like we really fought out there today. The conditions weren’t easy.”