Anisimova struggles to serve with Arthur Ashe Stadium's roof closed during the US Open final

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NEW YORK (AP) — Amanda Anisimova knew as soon as she took the court for the U.S. Open final she was going to have trouble.

Not just because of the opponent across the net, but because of the roof over her head.

Anisimova struggled to see the ball when she served with the roof shut because of rain at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a problem the No. 8-seeded American she said she faced throughout her 6-3, 7-6 (3) loss to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.

“I haven’t played on the court during the day with the roof closed, and it was literally, like, white, and I couldn’t see the ball when I was serving,” Anisimova said. “The whole match, I think starting from the warmup, I was, like, this is really going to be a problem for me. I didn’t know what to do.”

Storms rolled through the New York area Saturday afternoon, forcing tournament officials to close the retractable roof on Ashe. There was a severe thunderstorm warning for an area that included Queens that lasted past the match's starting time of just after 4 p.m. EDT, with possibilities of hail and winds of up to 60 mph.

Anisimova motioned to her team in the stands that something was bothering her during ball tosses for serves.

“There was no way of adjusting, because I could not see the ball when I was serving, and that was a huge shock to my system,” Anisimova said. “Because I knew if I can’t hold my serve, it was going to be very tough to stay in the match.”

Anisimova put only 58% of her first serves in and having to hit second serves against Sabalenka's power put her in constant trouble. She won just 10 of 28 points (36%) in those situations and had her serve broken five times in the match.

The 24-year-old from New Jersey played well enough to make it close despite those struggles before losing for the second straight time in a Grand Slam final. This one, with her lack of preparation for the match conditions, provided Anisimova with a lesson she said she can take into future tournaments.

“But it was extremely frustrating for me,” she said. “I mean, I was not expecting that at all, and that made my serving today very, very difficult.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis