Iga Swiatek has made quite a few changes in the last few months. The biggest change was the addition of Naomi Osaka’s former coach, Wim Fissette, to the team, after Tomasz Wiktorowski’s adieu. Moreover, the current world No.2 also skipped a few tournaments to relax and regroup herself. Consequently, she relinquished her top position to Aryna Sabalenka as they prepare for the WTA Finals, and mark an end to this season. When asked about short-term sacrifices over long-term changes, she described herself as an over-thinker and making the right choices while learning from the GOAT, Novak Djokovic himself!

During the WTA final press conference, Swiatek accepted that “it’s not easy,” to take some decisions. However, she has an excellent motivation for the hard decision: “want my career to be really long and balancing everything out.” Hence, when she takes a ‘hard’ decision, the Pole is usually confident about it. She reasoned, “I’m an over-thinker. If I make a decision, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a good one. So basically I trust myself in that way.” 

It’s difficult to make changes to one’s team. However, Iga Swiatek was ready to take Wim Fissette’s leap with relative ease than before and was ready for more to come in further. She further added, “Now I feel like I know a bit more. Probably in the future, I’m going to have to also make some decisions.” Certainly, time might have been the best teacher for the former World No.1. However, she also took inspiration from the most experienced players about managing the scheduling.

Iga leveraged the example of Djokovic, who skipped quite a few tournaments this season and still performed well. He missed most of the grass swing tournaments because of knee surgery after Roland Garros, only stepping on the court for Wimbledon Open, and still claiming the runner-up spot. Moreover, after winning the Paris Olympics, the Serbian stepped on the court only at the US Open.

“You can see the most experienced players on tour. They are a bit older, skipping some tournaments but actually being able to play their best games on Grand Slam, the biggest event that they really care about. I think like Novak, for example, is a great example of that. We can learn from people like that,” – remarked Swiatek.

It seems leading by Djokovic’s example of prioritizing the tournaments has helped Swiatek, as she trained with her new coach, learning the ins and outs and working to improve on a few fronts.

Iga Swiatek “don’t feel rusty,” as she arrives at Saudi Arabia to defend her title with her new coach, Wim Fissette

Iga Swiatek took a step back from the Asian swing, with only a few matches in her pocket, after a dismal performance on the grass and hard court swings. However, this doesn’t imply that Swiatek was on holiday! Rather, the World No.2 was making a few productive changes in her team for better support. Praising the new coach for his input, she said,

“I’m not a complete player. Tactically, there are many ways in which I could bring more variety to the court. Wim has good ideas on this. We’ve been preparing for this tournament and getting to know each other a bit better.”

While Swiatek was testing water off the competitive sphere with her new coach Wim Fissette, fans were worried about her form at the upcoming WTA Finals. Quashing all the worries on her arrival at Riyadh, Swiatek said, “I don’t feel rusty. I’ve played some points here with Aryna and Qinwen. I’ve also been training like that. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out much.” This certainly comes as a breather for the fans, who are eager to watch the Pole star dominate the court once again.

How would the World No.2 perform at Riyadh? Would she be able to defend her title successfully, or will we see a new champion for the year-end crown?