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Iga Swiatek created a buzz in the tennis world after announcing Wim Fissette as her new coach. The famed coach from Belgium has now spoken out for the first time since the news and revealed his plans for World No. 1.
Swiatek split with her longtime coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, in October 2024 after three years together. Wiktorowski guided Swiatek to four of her five Grand Slam titles and the World No. 1 ranking. After their split, the Pole hired Wim Fissette as her head coach. Fissette has previously coached five World No. 1 players, including Naomi Osaka, Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, and Victoria Azarenka.
Fissette sat down for his first interview after becoming Iga Swiatek's coach and laid out his goals for the new partnership. In a wide-ranging conversation with Eurosport, the 44-year-old expressed his desire to guide Swiatek to more Grand Slam titles on surfaces other than clay. Only one of Swiatek's five Majors has come outside clay courts- the 2022 US Open.
"Our goal is definitely for Świątek to start adding more Grand Slam titles on other surfaces as well. The clay court season has its own specifics. There are a lot of matches and tournaments played in a short time," Fissette said (Translated from Polish).
The Belgian highlighted the importance of developing the Pole's game to achieve greater success in tournaments after Roland Garros. So far in her career, Iga Swiatek has only reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the semifinals at WTA 1000 tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati.
"You have to get into a rhythm, gain self-confidence, and after Paris there is time to move on to other surfaces. Then there will be an opportunity to work on the game on other surfaces and try to achieve success there," Wim Fissette added.
WTA Finals 2024 to be Wim Fissette and Iga Swiatek's first tournament together
Wim Fissette and Iga Swiatek will hit the ground running in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the latter will compete in the 2024 WTA Finals. The tournament will be played at the King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh from November 2 to 9. Swiatek is the defending champion at the 2024 WTA Finals.
She emerged victorious at the WTA Finals for the first time last year after beating Jessica Pegula in the final in Cancun. Swiatek became the first player to qualify for this year's edition after a blockbuster first half of the season in which she won four WTA 1000 titles (Qatar, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome) and completed a three-peat at Roland Garros.
The 23-year-old has not played on the WTA Tour since her quarterfinal exit at the US Open and will be the second seed at WTA Finals. She will joined by Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Zheng Qinwen, and Barbora Krejcikova at the year-end championship.
