Swiatek's Coach Admits He Finds Skipping Wimbledon Tempting Idea, But She Does Not
NewsWednesday, 04 June 2025 at 21:09
Iga Swiatek's coach, Wim Fissette, gave some interesting insights in a recent interview, including expressing frustration about not having enough time to help the Pole improve her game.
Fissette replaced Tomasz Wiktorowski towards the end of 2024. Their first tournament together was at the 2024 WTA Finals, and they have collaborated at all of Swiatek's events throughout this season.
Despite Fissette's best efforts, Swiatek's results have not been what they hoped for. She has not reached a final since their collaboration began, but can break that streak in her blockbuster semifinal at Roland Garros against Aryna Sabalenka.
The grass-court season, Swiatek's least successful time of the season since starting her professional career, immediately follows the French Open. There had been rumors about the five-time Grand Slam champion skipping this year's Wimbledon.
Swiatek subsequently clarified that she has no plans not to play one of the world's most important tournaments. The 24-year-old was surprised to be asked about it and confirmed that the rumors were baseless.
Fissette admitted during an interview with Ben Rothenberg that he would consider skipping Wimbledon if it were up to him, so they could spend time working on the practice court. However, how much Swiatek cares about the WTA rankings means it was never a possibility.
"I mean, I guess for me it would be (temping to skip a big tournament like Wimbledon). But she's a ranking player. She loves the ranking - and it's great, I think, also for the WTA, that you have players like Sabalenka and her, and Coco: they're chasing the ranking."
The Belgian coach gave context to his personal feelings by detailing how little time he and Swiatek have had to work together. He thinks the hectic WTA schedule makes it challenging for players to improve on the practice court.
"Also, again, with the schedule they're playing, there's no time to improve. Last year, she played the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November. Then she needed to have some holidays. So you have two weeks' time, and in two weeks you're not gonna make big changes. You're gonna try to fine-tune a few things, or make small corrections. But you're not going to add something to your game."
"So in the end, that was kind of the case for her in the last several years. It's important that, hopefully, at the end of the season, we're going to have some time and we can develop a little bit more."
Fissette is an experienced coach who has worked with Multiple-time Grand Slam winners Naomi Osaka, Victoria Azarenka, and Kim Clijsters. He revealed that those players do not care as much about the rankings.
"Actually, the players I worked with in the past were not like that. Naomi was not interested - she was a Slam player. Vika(Azarenka) was also really focused on the big tournaments. And even in the past, when I was with Kim, she came back just to win Slams; she was not really caring about 500s or something."
There were rumors of friction between the pair when Swiatek ignored Fissette's high-five attempt after she lost to Mirra Andreeva at February's 2025 Dubai Championships. But they seem committed to making the collaboration work.
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