Despite her best efforts to rectify her training camp, coaching troubles can’t detach from Iga Swiatek. After a splendid first half of the season, the Polish star hit the turbulence of a bad streak. She was unable to capitalize on her strengths in the North American hardcourt swing and later, shook fans by announcing her split with longtime coach Tomasz Wiktorowski but, was quick to add a fresh face to her clique. However, a tennis journalist claimed that Swiatek’s latest partnership won’t serve her best interests.

The Pole enjoyed a stellar journey with Wiktorowski, wherein she clinched a plethora of WTA titles. What was problematic, though, was her performance outside of the clay court. Subsequently, after her coaching break-up, experts cited that a healthy change could extend Swiatek’s reign outside the surface and this, in turn, prompted her to join forces with Naomi Osaka’s ex-coach, Wim Fissette. With mixed responses pouring from the community following their newfound alliance, journalist Krzysztof Rawa switched to the other side and Lowkey frowned upon this surprising match-up.

Presenting his candid take while talking to ‘Sport.pl’, Rawa highlighted that the World No. 2 might need a slight change in perspective from her new coach; something Fissette isn’t on par with. “I read in one of the articles that Wim Fissette is very different from Tomasz Wiktorowski. Well, I think the opposite – that he is a very similar coach.” Rawa further explained that, when asked about his coaching role models, Tomek Wiktorowski reluctantly mentioned a few names, including Sam Sumyk and Iga Świątek’s new coach, Fissette. He explained that he admires the analytical approach of the latter. “Fissette is also a kind of “laptop coach”. And this makes me have mixed feelings,” he further remarked.

Owing to the Belgian coach’s similarity in pacifist temperament with Swiatek’s former coach, the journalist has his doubts. He believes that the alliance wouldn’t fulfill the Pole’s requirements – despite her coach’s expertise in “the latest training trends”. She needs an alternate coaching version, something out of the box to help improve her gameplay. He said, “I think Iga could use a slightly different trainer profile.”

“Something different, because Tomek and Wim also have in common that they are calm guys. Even if they don’t like something, they tend to suppress it, although after Wim’s career, it seems that he hasn’t suppressed it for so long, since he’s had the opportunity to train so many female tennis players. He is very well-versed in the latest trends, including training trends. But will that be enough for Iga? There’s no certainty here.”

Following a turmoil of changes and a no-show at the Asian hardcourt swing, Swiatek’s rich vein of dominance has been jeopardized. She lost being the world-ranking leader to Aryna Sabalenka – eliciting a former tennis pro to opine that the young talent will hit a snag if she tries to dethrone the Belarusian sensation.

Iga Swiatek reclaiming the World No. 1 spot from Aryna Sabalenka unlikely as per ex-pro

Polish superstar Iga Swiatek was dethroned by rival Aryna Sabalenka on Monday, October 21, following a reign of 50 straight weeks. It was bound to happen – skipping multiple tour-level events does that. The Belarusian has been on fire lately, flaunting her athletic finesse by producing glorious campaigns at Cincinnati, New York, and Wuhan. While Swiatek trails behind by merely 41 points to the Belarusian, former player CoCo Vandeweghe claimed that she won’t be able to gap that difference.

During an episode of the ‘Tennis Channel Inside-In’ podcast, Vandeweghe said: “She[Swiatek] hasn’t really played too much post US Open, where you see people are trying to get some momentum back. I’m gonna drop Iga in that list. I think Iga also, she’s having such a long season. There’s too many tournaments yet you’re still playing. After US Open, every player is fried.”

“I don’t think Iga’s gonna be able to retake the No. 1 ranking from Sabalenka even if she does win out. I could be wrong and I’m happy to be wrong. There’s obviously commitments that WTA makes you play,” he concluded.

Hoping to reclaim her throne, Swiatek will have to topple every challenge at the WTA Finals in Abu Dhabi. The Pole will commence her title defense at the season-concluding event with 1500 points to defend and a better conclusion to her 2024 season.