Iga Swiatek might be the World No. 1 player on the WTA Tour, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any space for improvement for her.
The Polish player has dominated the WTA Tour for the last couple of years. After Ashleigh Barty's unexpected retirement, she became the World No. 1 player on April 4th, 2022, and since then, she held the spot for 124 weeks.
Those came in two stints. First, she was the highest-ranked player for 75 weeks before her main rival, Aryna Sabalenka, overtook her for eight months last year. However, Swiatek reclaimed the spot at the WTA Finals, and since then, she has completed another 49 weeks as the top-ranked player.
After winning eight in 2022 and six in 2023, the Polish player has also won five trophies in 2024 so far. She has a chance to match her mark from last year at the upcoming WTA Finals, which will be her last tournament of the season after she withdrew from the Wuhan Open.
Her reason for withdrawal was her split from coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, who had worked with her since 2022. Despite her dominance in the past two years, especially on the clay courts, Swiatek decided that it was time for a change.
In her statement, the 23-year-old stated that she's already looking for a new coach, who she doesn't want to be Polish, but instead, someone from abroad.
Analyzing the decision for Eurosport, former World No. 7, Barbara Schett, who reached the US Open quarter-finals in 1999, wasn't very surprised by the Polish player's choice.
"Iga Swiatek might be No. 1 in the world, [but] she still wants to develop her game outside of clay, [for example] on grass and hard. Let's face it, it hasn’t really happened in the last year or two. She is looking for something different; an outside look, because at this level every percentage counts."
While there is no doubt about Swiatek's dominance on clay courts, she won the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, and the French Open back-to-back-to-back this year, she was unable to bring the same kind of quality to the hard courts at the US Open or the grass courts at Wimbledon.
That's one reason Schett is happy about Swiatek's coaching change, as according to the former Austrian player, her game looked very 'one-dimensional' in London and New York.
"I am not surprised she is searching for somebody from abroad and not from Poland. She needs a different pair of eyes and different stimulations. I was really disappointed with the way she played at Wimbledon and at the US Open, where she was so one-dimensional and could not adjust tactically."
The three-time WTA titlist also explained why Swiatek could benefit from bringing a new coach. There is a lot of space for improvement in her game, and a new coach might unlock that part of her repertoire for the Pole.
"She was going for it but not really seeking solutions. She definitely can develop her game even more and learn when to pull back and when to go for it."
Swiatek will now focus on finding the right person and will then complete only one tournament with her new coach in 2024—the WTA Finals in Riyadh, starting on November 2nd.
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