Aryna Sabalenka is now the new queen of the tennis world! Sabalenka has secured the year-end World No. 1 ranking in the WTA for the first time. This achievement comes after Iga Swiatek’s loss to Coco Gauff at the WTA Finals. Swiatek was the world number one for almost 125 weeks! She had even revealed that ending 2024 as WTA number one was one of her three top goals at the beginning of the year. Swiatek failed to fulfill that goal for this season, but can she defend her title at the WTA Finals? Well, to reach the SF, she now needs to beat Jessica Pegula in her last match! Have you ever seen this Polish superstar in this situation before?

Over the last few years, Iga Swiatek has literally been synonymous with sheer dominance on the court. She started the season pretty well and clinched five titles this season. However, she looked a bit rusty after the US Open tournament. We saw her taking a long break from tennis after losing out the QF final match against Jessica Pegula. Speaking about her current situation and her must-win match against Pegula at the WTA Finals, Swiatek claimed, “Honestly, this will be the first time I’ve been in this situation. It’s something new, and it’s definitely exciting.”

Interestingly, Iga Swiatek has played against Jessica Pegula 10 times in her career and currently, she has an edge in their H2H scoreline by a 6-4 margin. Shortly after her recent defeat at the hands of Coco Gauff, we saw Swiatek figuring out all the mistakes she made in that match. “Well, for sure, I wasn’t solid enough, and Coco used her opportunities much better than I did. You know, I had some break points that I didn’t win. And for sure, I made more unforced errors,” said the Polish superstar.

She admitted that she was not entirely satisfied with her serve in that match. Iga Swiatek hit only one ace in the entire match and committed two double faults. Talking about her serves, she added, “My serve is sometimes unstable, but today I had the impression that I was serving in a certain direction and that limited my possibilities on the court. The truth is that many times when I train, I don’t have such feelings, but when the stress of a match comes, the body reacts differently.” Her new coach, Wim Fissette, has also perhaps taken notes of these things.

Has Wim Fissette set any goals for himself and Iga Swiatek for the 2025 season?

Iga Swiatek has struggled a bit on the non-clay courts this season. Shortly after her disappointing campaign at the 2024 US Open, we saw her bringing an end to her three-year partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski. After that, she announced that Wim Fissette would now play the role of her new coach on her team. Speaking about this new inclusion, Iga Swiatek said, “I have said many times that my career is a marathon, not a sprint, and I am working and making decisions with that approach. I am very excited to work with Wim. He has a great knowledge of the game and a lot of experience at the highest level of tennis.” However, this new inclusion had indeed raised a few eyebrows in the tennis world.

Amid all these controversies, we heard Serena Williams’ former coach, Rennae Stubbs, share a few words on this new partnership. She said, “I think it’ll go great because Wim will come in with new ideas and fresh ideas, he’s a little bit and not a little bit, he’s a lot more upbeat and a lot more positive than Tomasz.” Stubbs further claimed, “I think Iga will probably do great and will look like a legend.” Now, since the 2024 season is almost coming to an end: Have they set any goals for the next year?

Well, according to a previous statement by Fissette, “Our goal is for Swiatek to start adding more Grand Slam titles on other surfaces as well.” He stressed the fact that Iga Swiatek needs to get into a rhythm and gain confidence so that she can make a better switch from clay courts to different courts.

Apart from that, Wim Fissette also revealed, “Top players want to play big matches, that’s their main motivation. They usually don’t have problems with it, it makes them happy. How do I work? I have information, videos. I prepare my players, we discuss strengths and weaknesses, prepare tactically, and draw conclusions.”

Surely, this isn’t the position Iga Swiatek would be willing to stay for too long, and her sole goal, for now, would be to forget the results of her previous match and come up with a win against Pegula in the next big match.