Aryna Sabalenka admits Wimbledon rival 'p***** me off' after breaking golden rule

It is fair to say Amanda Anisimova got under the skin of Aryna Sabalenka en route to her first Grand Slam final.

But the 23-year-old from New Jersey will have to pull off some truly dastardly dirty tricks on Saturday if she is to leave Iga Swiatek feeling as fed up as the world number one was on Centre Court on Friday.

During her 4-6 6-4 4-6 loss, Sabalenka accused Anisimova of celebrating a point too early, and stared her opponent down when the American failed to say sorry for a lucky winner that clipped the net.

Referring to what she thought was that premature celebration, Sabalenka said: “She kind of p****d me off.”

And discussing the lack of the traditional acknowledgement of good fortune after a favourable net cord, Sabelenka added: “I was like … 'you don't want to say sorry?' She just wanted, I guess, badly to win this match. If she doesn't feel like saying sorry, that’s on her.”

READ MORE: Taylor Fritz made opinion very clear on Carlos Alcaraz row after rival banked millions

READ MORE: Wimbledon semi-final halted as Aryna Sabalenka rushes to aid of TWO stricken spectators

Rightly, Anisimova brushed aside Sabalenka’s complaints and knows she is unlikely to rattle 24-year-old Swiatek, who has won every one of her five Grand Slam finals and was brutally efficient in dismissing unseeded Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0.

Swiatek, who spent a couple of years as world number one but has yet to win Wimbledon, revealed that she listens to AC/DC as she walks onto court and she certainly put Bencic on a highway to hell with just over an hour of heavy metal tennis.

She said: “Tennis keeps surprising me. I thought I'd experienced everything on the court but I didn’t experience playing well on grass, so that’s the first time and I’m super-excited and enjoying it.

“Every point is different and every match I need to adjust my game but for sure I feel like I improved my movement and I’m serving really well and I feel really confident.”

Swiatek has every right to feel confident ahead of the showdown with Anisimova but the American’s journey to a Wimbledon final shows she is made of very stern stuff.

As a 17-year-old she reached the 2019 French Open semi-finals, beating Sabalenka along the way, and was heavily tipped to win a Grand Slam. But four years later, she decided to take a break for her mental health and did not pick up a racket for seven months.

And after her win over Sabalenka, she said: “I think that's a really special message that I've been able to show because, when I took my break, a lot of people told me that you would never make it to the top again if you take so much time away from the game.

“That was a little hard to digest because I did want to come back and still achieve a lot and win a Grand Slam one day.

“Just me being able to prove that you can get back to the top if you prioritise yourself is incredibly special to me. It means a lot.”

And it will mean a lot more if she can somehow upset Swiatek in the way she upset Sabalenka but that will be a tall order against a brilliant Pole playing rockstar tennis.