After three seasons of working together, top player Iga Swiatek and coach Tomasz Wiktorowski parted ways. The athlete is currently in search of a new coach.
In a social media post, the athlete said: “After three years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski we decided to part ways. I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together.”
She added: “His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and enormous knowledge about tennis helped us to achieve things I’ve never dreamed of only a few months after we started working together.”
In 2022, Wiktorowski became the coach for Swiatek, after she had already achieved one Grand Slam victory in her career. He helped her attain four more Grand Slam titles, including three consecutive French Opens.
With his guidance, Swiatek became the first Polish player to reach the top rank in the world in April 2022, and she has spent 123 weeks as number one.
Looking for a new coach
Swiatek admitted that it would take a few weeks to begin working with her new potential coaches, and she had talked to some of them already.
Earlier, she withdrew from the China Open due to personal reasons.
Top-ranked player Iga Swiatek recently declared that she had enlisted Belgian Wim Fissette, who previously coached athletes such as Naomi Osaka, Kim Clijsters, and Victoria Azarenka, in her team.
With this news, Swiatek said in a social media post: “I’m happy to announce that Wim Fissette is joining our team… “As you know, I’m preparing for the WTA Finals but my perspective is, as always, long-term, not short-term. I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint and I’m working, operating and making decisions with this approach.”
She added: “I want to say that I’m very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision and huge experience at a very top level of tennis. It’s always crucial to try and get to know each other better but we’re off to a good start and I can’t wait to compete soon.”
This was after the five-time Grand Slam champion had split with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski earlier this month, ending their three-year professional relationship.
Prior to the 2022 season, Wiktorowski became a member of Swiatek’s team and he helped her in four of her five Grand Slam victories. Three of these victories were achieved at the French Open.
After the performance of world no.1 Iga Swiatek at the Wimbledon and the US Open, Barbara Schett, an expert from Eurosport and former tennis player, admitted that the athlete should have a complete overhaul and has said that she “needs a different pair of eyes”.
The expert stated that Swiatek has the right to concentrate on honing her capabilities away from her favored surface, which is clay. She said: “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…. She is looking for something different; an outside look, because at this level every percentage counts.”
She added: “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… 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.”
Recently, Swiatek parted ways with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. In their three years of working with each other, the athlete won four Grand Slam titles and rose to the top of the global rankings.
Even though she was the top seed at both the US Open and Wimbledon, her playing soured towards the end of the year, and she exited both events. She also only got bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics after losing in the semi-finals against Zheng Qinwen.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that Polish athlete Iga Swiatek has agreed to a one-month suspension after testing positive for an illegal substance.
The five-time Grand Slam winner tested positive for a prohibited drug called trimetazidine.
The ITIA declared: “The ITIA accepted that the positive test was caused by the contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication (melatonin), manufactured and sold in Poland that the player had been taking for jet lag and sleep issues, and that the violation was therefore not intentional.”
The ITIA offered the athlete a suspension on November 27. The agency added: “The player was provisionally suspended from 22 September until 4 October, missing three tournaments, which counts towards the sanction, leaving eight days remaining… In addition, the player also forfeits prize money from the Cincinnati Open, the tournament directly following the test.”
In a social media post, the athlete admitted: “In the last 2.5 months I was subject to strict ITIA proceedings, which confirmed my innocence. The only positive doping test in my career, showing unbelievably low level of a banned substance I’ve never heard about before, put everything I’ve worked so hard for my entire life into question. Both me and my Team had to deal with tremendous stress and anxiety. Now everything has been carefully explained, and with a clean slate I can go back to what I love most.”
It is prohibited for athletes to use trimetazidine, both during and after competition, as it is classified as a ‘metabolic modulator.’ Unlike other stimulant-class performance-enhancing medicines, this specific drug is made to help with endurance in physical exercise, even though it would not raise the athlete’s heart rate.
All because of melatonin
The result of the test shocked Swiatek. She said: “It was a blow for me, I was shocked and this whole situation made me very anxious. At first I couldn’t understand how that was even possible and where it came from.”
The 23-year-old athlete immediately cooperated with the ITIA, and began conducting tests on medications and nutritional supplements. According to these tests, the melatonin that the athlete claimed to take to aid her in her sleep was contaminated.
Swiatek further said: “This experience, the most difficult in my life so far, taught me a lot… The whole thing will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life, it took a lot of strength, returning to training after this situation nearly broke my heart. So there were many tears and lots of sleepless nights. The worst part of it was the uncertainty.”
The WTA claimed to support Swiatek. WTA stated: “The WTA fully supports Iga during this difficult time. Iga has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to fair play and upholding the principles of clean sport, and this unfortunate incident highlights the challenges athletes face in navigating the use of medications and supplements.”
“The WTA remains steadfast in our support for a clean sport and the rigorous processes that protect the integrity of competition,” WTA added.
The 22-year-old will reclaim her No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings after she won the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, edging past Aryna Sabalenka.
Swiatek’s WTA finals journey
Swiatek had an intriguing start to her WTA finals journey when she alone donned a red dress at the draw ceremony and pre-tournament photo shoot, while the rest of the seven girls were all dressed in white. This caused Swiatek to stand out from the crowd, garnering the attention of many spectators, who complimented her on her stunning attire.
When interviewed by the Tennis Channel, Swiatek asserted that the incident was the result of a miscommunication. The Polish player shared that she had selected the dress, which had been designed by Magda Butrym, a few months prior to the ceremony, but then received an email from the WTA informing her that the dress code was to be white.
“Honestly there was no story!” she laughed. “I picked that dress a couple of months before, and then the WTA emailed us that we should all wear white. And we were like, really? We’re not getting married or something?
Iga Swiatek on why she was the only one wearing red at the WTA Finals Gala:
“Honestly there was no story. I picked the dress a couple months before. Then WTA emailed us that we should all wear white. We were like ‘really?’ We’re not getting married or something 😂. We asked them… pic.twitter.com/hF5ehbYQEU
“So we asked them if it’s possible to maybe not have that rule. And they literally sent an email a few hours later saying that it’s okay, you can wear whatever you want,” Swiatek said.
And for the rest of the week, Swiatek stood out as she didn’t lose one single game in the round-robin format of the tournament, prevailed against Bulgarian player Aryna Sabalenka, and reached the WTA Finals final, where she finally defeated American player Jessica Pegula in a dominant fashion.
Swiatek prevailed via a straight-set victory of 6-1, 6-0 to become the youngest champion since Petra Kvitova (21) in 2011, according to Olympics.com. This victory marked her first time winning at the WTA finals, her sixth title of the year, her sixty-eighth win of the year, and her seventeenth career singles title on the Hologic WTA tour.
As a result, Swiatek will now be reclaiming her throne from Sabalenka to finish as the year-end No. 1 for the second straight season.
When asked about her most recent success, Swiatek described it as “a dream come true.”
“Coming back to world number one, it’s a dream come true, for sure,” Swiatek said per the WTA official website. “I would say I wasn’t expecting that right now, this season. I was hoping that maybe next year is gonna be my year, but it seems like you know, just working hard and focusing on the right things at the end worked. So I’m really happy.”
YEAR-END #1 IN 2022, YEAR-END #1 IN 2023! 🔥
With her triumph at the WTA Finals in Cancun, 🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek will now finish as year-end #1 on the WTA rankings for the SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR. ✌️
She's the youngest woman to achieve the feat since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010-2011:
Iga Swiatek, ranked #1 in the world, defeated Aryna Sabalenka again, winning the Italian Open in straight sets and proving that she deserves the top spot. The 22-year-old easily defeated Sabalenka with a performance record of 6-2 6-3 to claim her 21st career title.
In the Madrid Open finals earlier, Swiatek also defeated Sabalenka in a thrilling match, which made their rematch a game to watch. With this, the athlete admitted: “After Madrid I knew it wasn’t going to be easy… I’m really happy that I was able to play consistently during the clay season. The final tournament is in front of us. I always enjoy playing here.”
Despite facing seven break points in the last set against Sabalenka, Swiatek was impressive throughout, committing just eight unintentional errors in the entire match.
On Swiatek
Sabalenka, despite her unfortunate loss, congratulated Swiatek: “Congrats on an incredible two weeks in Rome. I hope we make it to the final at Roland Garros and I’m going to beat you there! Just kidding but I want to do better than today.”
“I love this tournament and hopefully I am going to come back stronger next year,” she added.
Having won three Italian Open titles in a row and going undefeated in the 2024 tournament season, Swiatek is the defending champion going into the French Open. The competition will be held in Paris, and will commence on May 26.
