Iga Swiatek is on a quest to enhance her stellar resume outside the clay courts. Having arrived for the season-opening slam in Melbourne on the back of a runner-up finish at the United Cup, the Pole has inculcated healthy takeaways from her new coach Wim Fissette. Later, she broke down the nuances of working with the Belgian coach at Melbourne Park.

The Polish No. 1 endured a bitter-sweet run in the 2024 season. Despite adding a fourth French Open silverware to her catalogue, Swiatek faced resistance on the tour after suffering a sharp drop in form. Her quest for the elusive gold came short at the Olympic Games in Paris and when the American swing commenced, the Pole couldn’t record a noteworthy outing. Hoping to bring about a change in results, Swiatek parted ways with longtime coach Tomasz Wiktorowski in October.

A few days later, Swiatek announced adding Naomi Osaka‘s former coach Wim Fissette to her coaching camp, with experts claiming that the smart move could improve her ability outside the Roland Garros arena. However, trouble was only waiting to arrive as Swiatek tested positive for a banned anabolic with an out-of-competition sample. Despite a “no significant fault or negligence” verdict from the ITIA, the 23-year-old was handed a one-month doping suspension, forcing her out of the Asian swing.

Having returned after serving her suspension, Swiatek has glued her foot to the pedal. She made short work of her British rival Emma Raducanu in the third round of the Australian Open. Later, during a post-match presser, she informed the reporters of Fissette’s impact on her. “I feel the support. He knows I’m doing 100% even when sometimes the effect is not perfect. On a practice court or something when I’m struggling he gives me a lot of support and understanding,” the former World No. 1 said.

“Tennis-wise it’s hard to say because it’s not like his view is different from the coaches I had before, it’s just about the execution. These matches I played to execute the tactics and my game I like it a bit better than before. Our work is about everything so there’s not one specific thing. It has to click in every aspect for me to play and for now, it does. With my game I feel a bit more confident than last year,” she added.

No doubt Swiatek’s confidence is soaring sky-high at the ‘Happy Slam.” She clinched the match against Raducanu in just 70 minutes.

Iga Swiatek expresses feeling “great” after advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open

On Saturday afternoon at the Rod Laver Arena, two Grand Slam champions locked horns in a bid to dig deep at the Australian Open. Despite speculations of a tough battle between Emma Raducanu and Iga Swiatek, the latter stormed past the Brit in straight sets 6-1, 6-0. Speaking to the media afterwards, Raducanu reflected on her heartbreaking exit and expressed that her loss stemmed from her underperformance and the former World No. 1’s impressive play.

“I think it was a little bit of her playing well and me not playing so well. So, that combination is probably not good and resulted in today,” Raducanu said. Swiatek also reserved a few words to term her performance against the 2021 US Open champion during a press conference. “For sure I felt great. I felt like the ball is listening to me. So just pretty loosened up. I felt like all the tactics and everything I wanted to do, I was able to. So I just kept going,” said the former US Open champion.

For those unaware, the Polish star is still running to reclaim her World No. 1 spot that she conceded to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka at the end of last year. Next up, the 23-year-old will square off against Eva Lys for a place in the last eight of the Melbourne Slam on Monday, January 19. Are you backing Iga Swiatek to win her first Australian Open title?