“As tennis players we meet on our path a lot of people who contribute great value into our work and, often, into our life too, because we spend almost the whole year on tour together,” Iga Swiatek said on Instagram in December 2021. She had just split from her longtime coach, Piotr Sierzputowski, with whom she had been working since 2016. While no straight reason had been given for the split, Swiatek simply stated that she wanted a pre-season “without any outside pressure.” Heard, one’s loss is another’s gain?

Born in Nowy Dwór Gdański, Sierzputowski, a former junior tennis player, began coaching in his early teens. He initially trained his younger sister, Alicja, but soon expanded his coaching to other girls at a local tennis club in Pomerania. While supporting his sister’s career, he spent time working in the United States with her and other players, including at the Johan Kriek Tennis Academy. Upon returning to Poland, he became an assistant coach at Legia Warsaw’s tennis club. In mid-2016, on the back of reaching a junior French Open quarterfinal, then-15-year-old Iga Świątek began working with Sierzputowski, then 23, at Legia Warsaw.

The 2020 WTA Coach of the Year had led the Polish player to her first Grand Slam(on clay) that year. Swiatek was aged 19 and the youngest since Monica Seles to do it. It was, in most people’s eyes, a dream collaboration. Especially since the two had been working together for more than 5 years. In 2020, Sierzputowski was recognized with the Polish Olympic Committee’s Grand Honorary Sports Award of Piotr Nurowski in the ‘Trainer’ category for his work with Iga Świątek. In 2021, Swiatek also won the WTA 1000 in Rome and the WTA 500 event in Adelaide, qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time. It was a fairy tale run until something moved in Iga.

But by the year end, she felt a change was needed and parted ways with Sierzputowski. In the off-season, before the 2022 season began, the Pole had paired up with Tomasz Wiktorowski, with whom she inarguably had a highly successful season. But Iga Swiatek wasn’t the only one to move on. Her ex-coach had too.

In early 2022, Sierzputowski began working as a tennis commentator on Eurosport Polska, including for some of Świątek’s matches. He also took on the role of coach for American top 50 player Shelby Rogers. She had, at that point, been struggling with injuries and physical issues, hired Sierzputowski in hopes of a better season ahead. She had only made Grand Slam appearances at the 2016 French Open and the 2020 US Open, where she got eliminated in the QFs of both tournaments. And after working together with Swiatek’s previous coach, Rogers only had good words for him.

“I think he’s just a really passionate guy. He loves what he does for sure,” the American told usopen.org in 2022. “He brings really positive energy every week, which is very helpful because it is a long season, a long year. He’s very knowledgeable and constantly trying to learn more, which I really appreciate. Together, we’re kind of figuring out the best way to do this, so it’s a real team effort, [but] the positivity, the energy, is just huge.”

Even Sierzputowski had been impressed by his new protegee. He had said at Indian Wells that same year, “I would say that I’m super impressed by how clean she hits the ball … Shelby can hit exactly in the middle of the sweet spot, consistently, one after the other—it’s a pure joy to watch.”

Interestingly, the Polish coach had seen the split with Iga Swiatek coming for some time. But was he miffed at being let go? No, unlike most, Sierzputowski still held a high opinion of his former mentee even after they were no longer working together.

“She led this conversation very well” : Piotr Sierzputowski on Iga Swiatek split

Change is the only constant that drives us all forward. Especially for sports personalities, sticking with the same formulas will not always get them to the top. When she had been working with Sierzputowski, Iga Swiatek had been World No. 4. By April 2022, the Polish player had hit the World No. 1 mark and has since maintained it almost consistently.

No wonder Sierzputowski knew why the change had to be made. “In the way, I think I should have found out. At the meeting with Iga and the staff. After talking to Iga, she told me what decision she had made. In my opinion, she led this conversation very well….. Big applause to her for acting like this,” he said at the time.

With Tomasz Wiktorowski now, it has been upward of three years and the partnership is still going strong. Iga Swiatek is already a five-time Grand Slam champion with 4 wins at the French Open alone, just three behind Chris Evert’s. Conversely, Shelby Rogers is persistently striving to advance in the rankings with her secret weapon!