Iga Swiatek’s Coach Spills the Beans on Simona Halep Split as Family Becomes the Reason Behind Unwanted Drama

Iga Swiatek’s one-month suspension infuriated Simona Halep! Halep proclaimed that the way she was treated was “unfair” and “unacceptable.“ For those who are unaware, Simona Halep was suspended from the WTA Tour in October 2022 for testing positive for a banned substance (Roxadustat). However, in February 2024, her ban was reduced from 4 years to just 9 months. So, she has been constantly highlighting this issue in the last few weeks and taking an indirect jab at Swiatek. Amid all these, recently Iga Swiatek’s coach Wim Fissette shared some interesting stories about the Romanian star. What did he say?

Wim Fissette coached Simona Halep in the 2014 season. During his tenure, Halep reached her first Grand Slam QF at the AO, the final of the French Open, and also made it to the SF of the Wimbledon Championships. Simona Halep also reached a career-high ranking of world number two in August 2014. However, their partnership ended at the end of that season. Reason? Well, the Romanian star said that she wants to focus on working with coaches from her native, Romania.

While making this announcement of her split with Fissette in 2014, Halep said, “It was a very good year, Wim helped me a lot, we had good results together…I want when we will meet at tournaments to be like before, to remain friends because I don’t have anything negative to say about him.” After Fissette, Simona Halep hired Romanian Victor Ionita to take up the coaching role. However, even he lasted for just four months!

What, according to Fissette is the real reason behind his split with Halep? Well, during an interview the ‘Functional Tennis’, he revealed, “It was something big. I led a talented but not yet titled player to second place in the ranking. I believed that together we would reach the top and win the Grand Slam tournament. But then Simona and her family decided that they needed a Romanian coach, someone who spoke their language.“ Not only that, in 2014 itself, Fissette added another interesting comment on Simona Halep.

He said, “She (Halep) went to one tournament with her mother, to another with her brother, and to another she took her friends. At each one, there was someone to entertain her. She constantly needs something new. I don’t think any coach will work with her for longer than a year in the future.” However, unlike his previous experiences with Halep, it seems his chemistry is working quite well with Iga Swiatek at the moment. 

Speaking on the experience with Fissette, Iga Swiatek said, “I really like his pre-match talk because it was a bit different to what I experienced before.” She highlighted how Wim Fissette puts more emphasis on the stats and all that stuff. “I think this is one thing that is cool because he understands different perspectives and he knows how to convince a player,” said Swiatek. 

Now, seeing Halep taking jibes at Iga Swiatek for the doping controversies, fans have become more curious to know what really went wrong between Swiatek’s current coach and Simona Halep in 2014. Perhaps, that’s why this topic has yet again come under the limelight. How did Iga Swiatek react to Simona Halep’s claims on the doping controversy, though?

Iga Swiatek responds to Simona Halep’s comments on the doping controversy

As soon as the news broke out about Iga Swiatek receiving only one-month suspension as it was deemed she carried, “no significant fault or negligence,” Simona Halep was among the first ones to raise her voice against the ruling. She shared a long note in her IG account, which said, “I sit and try to understand but it is really impossible for me to understand something like this. I sit and wonder, ‘Why such a big difference in treatment and judgment?“

She claimed that she couldn’t find a “logical answer” to this question. After that, during an interview with the Telegraph Sport, she yet again took an indirect jibe at Iga Swiatek. Halep said, “The woman player – I don’t want to give name, you know about who I’m talking about – she had the three-week suspension, then she played two events, and then she gets again suspension. What is this? I mean, I don’t understand. So I feel it is not fair.” What did Iga Swiatek say about these claims by the Romanian tennis star?

Well, during an interview with Anita Werner on the Polish TV channel TVN24, Iga Swiatek asserted that it’s really difficult to compare her doping cases to those of other players because “each of these cases is completely different.” She further added, “And the process of proving innocence will also be different. It’s hard to compare me to Sinner, to Halep, to Kamil Majchrzak, because each of us is struggling with a different problem.” What are your thoughts on Iga Swiatek‘s response to her critics?