Iga Swiatek Makes ‘Stubborn’ Admission While Responding to Coach Wim Fissette’s Critics

Iga Swiatek is in Montreal for the WTA 1000 tournament and will kick off her campaign against Chinese ace Guo Hanyu.

Iga Swiatek Makes ‘Stubborn’ Admission While Responding to Coach Wim Fissette’s Critics

Wim Fissette, Iga Swiatek (Image via X/Jimmy48 Photography)

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Iga Swiatek added Wim Fissette to her team last October after she parted ways with longtime coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. Wimbledon is the only title Swiatek has lifted under the Belgian coach.

Due to her trophyless tournaments before Wimbledon, Fissette faced a lot of criticism from the tennis community. Swiatek, during an interview with Andy Roddick on his Served podcast, explained why it took her a lot of time to get used to Fissette’s coaching.

People should give a little bit more trust and a bit more time for things to click. It’s not like we are just going to repeat what we did before, and I am stubborn. There is a reason it took me a few months to try new things out.

Before Swiatek, Fissette had worked with four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. Apart from them, Fissette also helped Kim Clijsters and Angelique Kerber emerge triumphant in Grand Slam events. This is also the first time Swiatek hired a non-Polish coach.

I wish I was not that stubborn. I think it’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s hard to get rid of it if it’s bringing you some positives, but I am super stubborn. Most of the challenges that occurred were basically me being stubborn or us not understanding each other, because it’s the first time that I have a coach who does not speak Polish.

Iga Swiatek added

In the Wimbledon final, Swiatek took only 57 minutes to double bagel Amanda Anisimova and became the second player after Steffi Graf to win a Grand Slam final with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline. Swiatek’s next task is to win the Canadian Open. She will be starting her campaign against Chinese ace Guo Hanyu, who eliminated Yulia Putintseva in straight sets to schedule her career’s first clash with the six-time Grand Slam champion.

The 24-year-old has never lifted the Montreal title. Her best performance in the tournament came in 2023 when she made it to the semifinal, only to lose to eventual champion Jessica Pegula. It’s Pegula who denied her the title at the Bad Homburg Open this year with a straight-set win as well. In Bad Homburg, Swiatek played a grass-court final for the first time in her career.

Since she failed to defend all five titles she lifted last year, Swiatek dropped to the eighth spot on the rankings table. Her Wimbledon triumph, however, has once again made her a top-three player (removed Pegula from the position).

Iga Swiatek says her rhythm breaks right after a tournament

For Iga Swiatek, it’s difficult for her to maintain her main rhythm when a tournament ends. It becomes harder when she doesn’t play competitive tennis for a week. In the pre-tournament press conference in Montreal, Swiatek addressed the difficulty of keeping the rhythm.

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (Image via X/Cycling on TNT Sports)

I would say it’s even harder, you know, because when you’re in a tournament rhythm, you kind of just go, but then you get a couple of weeks off. I mean, a couple of…like a week off and you come back on a court and you feel like yeah, you’re kind of starting from the beginning.

Last year on the North American hard-court swing, Swiatek had skipped the Montreal WTA 1000 event and played the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open, losing both before reaching the final. In Cincinnati, her campaign was ended by eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka, who also stopped her from reaching the semifinals at the US Open.

Swiatek is a former champion at Flushing Meadows. She lifted the title in 2022 by beating Ons Jabeur. Since then, she has not yet progressed beyond the quarterfinals.

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