Swiatek defends coach and psychologist despite disappointing results

ROME – Iga Swiatek has failed to win a tournament in almost a year, but the Polish world No. 2 has defended her coach and psychologist, despite the poor run of results and losing her place at the top of the world rankings in a difficult period.

Swiatek parted ways with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski in October after three years, adding Belgian Wim Fissette to her team and in November accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for banned substance trimetazidine.

The five-time Grand Slam winner has drawn a blank since winning the 2024 French Open, and her latest result saw Swiatek lose her Madrid Open title in a crushing 6-1, 6-1 semi-final defeat by Coco Gauff last week.

“Sometimes I’m not happy with the way I play. It’s natural, especially with my perfectionism. This can be seen on the court,” she told Polish media outlet SportoweFakty in an interview.

“However, when I come off it, I can look at the season from a broader perspective.

“Then I find a lot of positives. Reaching the quarter-finals or semi-finals is a good result. Again, I am the most even player of the whole season.”

Swiatek was asked if new coach Fissette was responsible for the lack of success. “No, this is a very harsh and unfair statement,” the 23-year-old said.

“I can only look at the coach from my own perspective, which is the only right one for me, that is, what our work looks like every day.

“The worse results coincided with many other challenges in recent months, also in family life. I found myself at a stage of my career where I had to reformulate my thinking about myself.

Swiatek believes others have improved rather than her regressing.

“The level of tennis in the world is getting higher and