Iga Swiatek told she may not have the ‘right staff’ despite hiring Rafael Nadal’s former coach
A former charge of tennis legend Billie Jean King believes Iga Swiatek might not have the right coaching team around her.
That is according to former top 60 player Sophie Amiach, who feels the Pole is still uncertain about her game under new coach Francisco Roig.
The Spaniard was part of Rafael Nadal’s coaching team from 2005-22, a stretch where the King of Clay won a remarkable 22 Grand Slams.
Swiatek has won chalked up six majors of her own but since her shock Wimbledon triumph last year, the 25-year-old has not looked particularly assured on the court.
Indeed, after suffering a heavy loss to Marta Kostyuk in the last-16 of the French Open, the former world No 1 hinted all is not well mentally for her.
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She told reporters, “Well, I mean, we’re not in a therapy session, so I’m going to keep it simple. Obviously, there could be many reasons, but I’d rather work on it on my own.
“It is a bit harder for me to handle stress than it was last year. Especially, I feel like the peak of that was in the United States [earlier] this year.
“I felt off, and I made mistakes that I didn’t want to make. I wanted to play safe, but the ball was flying everywhere. Suddenly those feelings came back and I tried to work on it through my internal dialogue, but it was tough today. It all kind of went drastically downhill and I played worse and worse.”
Several months into working with Roig, Swiatek comes into Wimbledon off the back of a fairly underwhelming year. She sits 11th in the WTA Tour race and few are predicting she will come out on top at SW19 once again.
In the lead-up to Wimbledon, former tour coach Amiach hinted that Swiatek may have chosen Roig as he had so much success with her idol Nadal. But as she points out, coaching a woman and a man can be very different.
She said on Gross’ YouTube channel, “I think there are a lot of things and a lot of uncertainty in her life, off court as well as on court. I think it’s complicated. And I’m not sure if the staff that she has are the right staff.
“I’m not sure she’s sure either. I think that being around her idol is one thing in Mallorca with Rafa [Nadal]. But the knowledge of Rafa to apply to the women’s tour is different. It’s very different than the men’s tour. But his knowledge is invaluable. There’s no doubt.
“I think she believes in the coaching staff right now. I’m not sure she’s really 100% in that. So let’s see what happens during this grass season.”
In the past, Swiatek was able to use her spinny, wristy forehand to great effect on the clay, as she won four French Open crowns.
However, that won’t be as effective on the grass courts of Wimbledon. As a result, Amiach has given her two cents on what the Pole’s best plan of attack should be at SW19.
She added, “I’m not sure the spinny forehand is going to be what you want to do on grass, personally.
“I think that her best and more threatening game is when she’s on top of that baseline and takes the ball really early, especially on the forehand and attacking that.
“And I think that that’s probably how she would approach this Wimbledon trying to defend the title, which everybody was so shocked last year that she won this won.”
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