Sports psychologist gives damning verdict on Iga Swiatek’s ‘disturbed relationship’ with team member

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek has been working with this team member since 2019 when she was 17 years old.

Sports psychologist gives damning verdict on Iga Swiatek’s ‘disturbed relationship’ with team member

Iga Swiatek (Image via X/WTA Insider)

Iga Swiatek‘s sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz has often been at the receiving end of criticism due to her relationship with the tennis ace. Despite the criticism, Abramowicz is also lauded for Swiatek’s success as the Polish tennis star has often cited mental strength as the reason behind her strong performance.

The five-time Grand Slam champion, however, is struggling to win trophies this season. Following the 2024 season, toward the end of which Swiatek dealt with the doping scandal, she could reach just one final and it wasn’t a singles summit clash. The 23-year-old helped Poland progress to the United Cup final but came close to her first WTA singles title since the 2024 French Open several times.

YouTube video

Swiatek recently advanced to the Indian Wells seminals and inched closer to winning the title three times. But Mirra Andreeva came out on top with a three-set win before beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final to clinch two back-to-back WTA 1000 titles.

FS Video

Swiatek lost her cool during the match and ended up smashing a ball close to a ball kid and was harshly criticized for her conduct. Abramowicz too was slammed as a video that surfaced on social media showed her shouting from the stands. Polish sports psychologist Dariusz Nowicki thinks Abramowicz crossed some professional boundaries.

If we were to look at this relationship only and exclusively from the point of view of a strictly psychological workshop, then it is indeed a disturbed relationship, in which certain boundaries of professional distance between the psychologist and the client are crossed.

Dariusz Nowicki told Inertia Sport

The Polish psychologist has been a part of Swiatek’s entourage since 2019 when Swiatek was 17 years old. While working with her, Swiatek won five Majors and reached the top of the rankings.

A certain psychological distance in relation to the client, who is the athlete, or in general to the training team, which is with the athlete or team, is essential. Someone in this group must maintain some common sense and emotional self-control, and the psychologist should be such a person the most.

Dariusz Nowicki added

Kim Clijsters thinks Iga Swiatek puts a lot of pressure on herself

Kim Clijsters made her feelings known on Iga Swiatek‘s recent performance. The Belgian feels Swiatek gets stressed out a lot and even before the start of her matches, she puts a lot of pressure on herself.

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (Image via WTA/X)

When she’s walking out there and seeing her in Indian Wells players’ area, there’s like a tension that is very, very…not even going to say it’s tight, there’s not a lot of room for anything else than tennis.

Kim Clijsters said on Served with Andy Roddick podcast

Swiatek while explaining her Indian Wells ball kid incident through an Instagram post, also revealed that she has not yet moved on from the doping scandal. She tested positive for trimetazidine in August last year and faced a one-month suspension which also included a three-month provisional suspension.

As she couldn’t play three tournaments, she lost her No.1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka. She said the thoughts of reclaiming her position from the Belarusian affected her performance in the Middle East Swing.

Iga Swiatek to lock horns with Caroline Garcia

Iga Swiatek, the second seed at the Miami Open, has received a bye and will start her campaign against Caroline Garcia. The Frenchwoman defeated Anna Bondar to set up a seventh tour-level meeting with Swiatek.

Iga Swiatek (3)
Iga Swiatek (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

In their six encounters, Swiatek defeated Garcia five times. They last faced each other in the second round of this year’s Indian Wells.