Ex-ATP Pro Slams Iga Swiatek’s New Coach for His ‘Ridiculous’ and ‘Awful’ Decision

Iga Swiatek hired Francisco Roig, who is also a former coach of Rafael Nadal. After her shock opening-round exit at the Miami Open, Swiatek went to Mallorca and trained alongside Nadal at his Rafa Nadal Academy.

And soon, she announced that Roig would be working with her. After this came into light, ATP player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard called out Roig’s decision to join Swiatek’s team.

Roig was working with the Frenchman at that time, and without telling him anything, the 58-year-old informed Perricard’s agent about his decision to split with the 22-year-old. Perricard hired Greg Rusedski after this controversy. Former ATP player Nick Monroe criticized the way Roig split with Perricard. He told Tennis Channel:

From my standpoint, that’s ridiculous. That’s awful. From a coach, call your player, tell them you’re going to be moving forward. You know, it’s not that big of a deal. Mpetshi Perricard has also moved on. Now, Greg Rusedski is going to be his coach, but go to the player. Don’t go through the agent. Don’t go through the back door and leave it like that.

Before hiring Roig, Swiatek parted ways with Wim Fissette, under whose guidance she produced mixed performance. She struggled to reach finals and win titles, but also tasted victory in last year’s Wimbledon by double-bageling Amanda Anisimova.

This year, the Pole, although she won the United Cup with Poland, failed to reach the semifinals of her singles tournaments. She exited after making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Qatar Open, and Indian Wells.

Because of her training session with Nadal and her partnership with Roig, many believe Swiatek would be making a strong comeback on the clay swing, where she is set to start her campaign at the Stuttgart Open. The WTA 500 event will start on April 13.

Tennis insider Blair Henley reacts to Iga Swiatek-Francisco Roig’s partnership

Prior to joining Iga Swiatek and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s teams, Francisco Roig had a coaching brief partnership with Emma Raducanu. The Brit hired Roig back in August.

Raducanu revealed during an interview that it was Roig who wanted to end their collaboration after her Australian Open exit, believing their partnership was not going the way they both wanted. His partnership with Perricard lasted for about a month. Reacting to the whole thing, tennis insider Blair Henley, also the co-host of the Love All podcast, said:

He [Roig] has had quite a year; he split with Emma Raducanu at the end of January and got hired by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. He was with him for a month-ish, and then we heard the announcement about a week ago that he had joined Iga’s team, and Mpetshi Perricard went on the record and said ‘Yeah, he didn’t tell me [he was leaving]. He told my agent, but he didn’t tell me directly. And he used the term, I’m sure it was translated, it’s a ‘ruthless world’.

On the clay swing, the last time Swiatek won a title was at the 2024 Roland Garros. She, in fact, had completed a three-peat, also winning her fourth title in the tournament. But last year, she failed to reach a final on her favorite surface. Her run in the clay-court Major ended at the hands of Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.

In Stuttgart, the six-time Grand Slam champion will be chasing her third title. It was Sabalenka whom Swiatek defeated both times in the Stuttgart finals in 2022 and 2023. She lost to eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals last year.

Last year, after the clay swing, the 24-year-old reached her career’s first grass-court final at the Bad Homburg Open and lost the match to Jessica Pegula. Apart from Wimbledon, Swiatek also won titles in Cincinnati and Seoul in 2025.

Also read: “Lack of Respect,” Jannik Sinner Suffers Backlash After Withdrawing from the Monte Carlo Doubles Draw

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW