Iga Swiatek has certainly faced her fair share of turbulence recently, both on and off the court. Her hiatus shook her rocksteady grip to the top spot bringing her down to the second and leaving fans anxious about her return. But now, the wait is almost over as Swiatek gears up to make her much-anticipated comeback at the WTA Finals! And it looks like the Polish star is not returning alone—she’s bringing in some serious firepower with the help of Naomi Osaka’s ex-teammate, Wim Fissette.

The Polish tennis sensation shocked the community when she announced that she would be parting ways with her long-time coach Tomasz Wiktorowski on October 4. The decision came after the star failed to continue her winning momentum following her French Open victory – and witnessed shocking exits at Wimbledon and the US Open. Since then, fans and experts alike had just one question on their minds: Who would be the solution to Swiatek’s struggles? But as soon as she announced her partnership with Fissette, there has been a vibe in the air that things are going to ease up for Iga. And apparently, fans are even beginning to see the change. 

Taking to X, a user shared some visuals of Swiatek’s practice session and claimed to have observed some crucial changes. “🎾 Iga Świątek added another training video today, maybe I’m exaggerating because she only played one backhand stroke, but it’s worth paying attention to the work of the right wrist. It goes down faster than usual. It can help with playing lower balls. And earlier lead-off,” the user highlighted. But how and why is this factor crucial?

For the unversed, backhand return is one of the most dominant aspects of Swiatek’s skills. Now, if the claim about her improving this skill further turns out to be true, it might result in increasing the woes of her opponents on the courts. And interestingly, Swiatek recently pointed out her struggle with her backhand return during the Olympics.

Losing to Qinwen Zheng in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics, Swiatek blamed her backhand struggles for the setback. “I just had a hole in my backhand. It happens rarely because it is usually my most solid shot,” Swiatek explained. “I tried to correct that during the match and today it didn’t work at all. So, she used that very well to win the match,” she added. 

Announcing her partnership with the Belgian tennis coach on October 17, Swiatek sang praises for him. “He seems to have a great attitude, vision and huge experience at a very top level of tennis,” she said. Indeed, Fisette has coached some big names across the tennis circuit and has helped them reach greater heights. This includes the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Qinwen Zheng, Angelique Kerber, and Kim Clijsters. His most recent stint was with the Japanese star Naomi Osaka who won multiple Grand Slams under his tutelage. With the recent claims of some changes in her playing style, it seems Swiatek is improving what some thought was ‘one-dimensional gameplay.

When Iga Swiatek received criticism for ‘one-dimensional’ playing style

Iga Swiatek has been dominated the courts for years now. But her setbacks, especially at the American Swing, garnered her some criticisms as well with her playing style becoming the center of attraction. The one to lead the fray was none other than the Polish tennis expert Tomasz Wolfke. 

Wolfke sat down in an interview with Super Express and shared his perspective on Swiatek’s playing style, and claimed that it lacks variations. “We don’t really know what happened in this team, but three years of cooperation in tennis is such a completely normal period, and during this period Iga and Tomek achieved stunning success together. However, recently there have been reservations about Iga’s playing style. I even always said in an open text that her tennis is too one-dimensional,” he said. However, he did not fail to laud her success either. 

“You can’t have a grudge against her either, because there is also a tennis school that says that we practice painfully what we do best and beat everyone with these two or three strokes, just like in the case of Iga,” Wolfke explained. As Swiatek now gears up to make a return to the court, it would be interesting to see what’s new in Iga’s skills.