Iga Swiatek Opens Door For Second Coach Ahead of Wimbledon Championships Defense

One name that will be on most fans’ minds heading into the Wimbledon Championships will be Iga Swiatek. The 25-year-old claimed the title last year after defeating Amanda Anisimova, which was her first grass-court silverware. She’s now under pressure to defend the title, and she’s seeking a second coach to help her do that.

It’s not a new thing on tour for a player to have two coaches. Carlos Alcaraz had Juan Carlos Ferrero and Samuel Lopez throughout last season, as one or both of them had to travel with him to tournaments. Sometimes coaches recommend a second coach who will help their player on tour when they have other urgent personal matters to attend to.

However, Swiatek has often had one coach for the past four years. She was under the tutelage of Tomasz Wiktoroski until 2024, when they parted ways, and she hired Wim Fisette as coach. Fisette helped Swiatek to regain her form, winning Wimbledon, the Cincinnati Open, and then the Seoul Open.

However, things didn’t go well for them at the start of the season, and grew worse when Swiatek exited the Miami Open early. That prompted her to part ways with the Fisette and hire Rafael Nadal’s ex-coach, Francisco Roig. But their partnership is yet to yield any success as Swiatek still chases her first final of the season.

With Wimbledon coming up in less than two weeks, Swiatek needs something different to propel her to defend the title. She still trusts Roig, but she’s in search of more ideas and advice to help her game improve. Speaking in an interview with WP SportoweFakty, Swiatek highlighted that she’s open to adding a second coach to her team this season:

This year we started working in April. The plan is for Francis to work with me throughout the season. But in the long run, it makes a lot of sense to add another coach to the team. First of all, few coaches can work 50 weeks a year and travel constantly. It is demanding work. A second coach always brings a fresh perspective and can improve the relationship with the head coach.

Swiatek is not competing at the Berlin Tennis Open as she’s yet to kick off her grass-court season. She will be at the Bad Homburg Open next week, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships. Several top 20 players, including Mirra Andreeva and Elina Svitolina, are in the tournament draw, as they seek to get adequate preparation ahead of the third Grand Slam of the season.

Iga Swiatek aims to get the right kind of people around her

Iga Swiatek will need all the help she can get ahead of the Championships. The former World No.1 is on the brink of losing to 2,000, should she fail to perform well at Wimbledon, and that could see her drop out of the top 5. At this time last year, she was in bad form and was outside the Top 7, but a good run at Bad Homburg and Wimbledon helped her regain her confidence.

This season, she has recorded just one top 10 victory on the court. The Polish star has found it difficult to beat top 20 opponents and lost to Madrid Open champion Marta Kostyuk in the round of 16 of the French Open. During the aforementioned interview, Swiatek revealed that she aims to get good people around, people who will propel her to succeed on the court:

When you have good people around you, most of the time spent with them is pleasant, but of course, unexpected things happen. We had some coaches in mind already, but it won’t be possible next month, so the situation is dynamic and will change.

Swiatek will hope to improve her game before Wimbledon. She reached the final of the Bad Homburg Open last year before losing to Jessica Pegula in the final. This year, she’s the top seed in the draw and the favorite to win the tournament.

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