Iga Swiatek asked about the dynamic with coach Wim Fissette – ‘He already knows that and he accept that’
Iga Swiatek and Wim Fissette are having great success on court, but she admits she sometimes needs “some persuasion” when it comes to adopting new ideas or making changes to her game.
After three successful years with Tomasz Wiktorowski, the former world No 1 parted ways with her fellow Pole in October last year and not long after she confirmed Fissette would join her coaching set-up.
The partnership was off to a slow start as Swiatek failed to reach a WTA Tour singles final in the first half of the season as she failed to defend her trophies at the Madrid Open, Italian Open and French Open.
But things eventually clicked as she finished runner-up on the grass at the Bad Homburg Open and then won Wimbledon to take her Grand Slam tally to six.
That was followed by an earlier than expected exit from the Canadian Open, but she then went on to win the Cincinnati Open and now considered the hot favourite to win the US Open.
Ten months into the colloberation and Swiatek was asked about the coaching dynamic with Fissette and replied: “I’m a bit stubborn, so if I have a different idea, then I need for sure some persuasion and also I need some proof, you know, if I’m going to go on court and feel that, oh, yeah, this is actually working and it helps me, then for sure I’ll go for it.
“You know, there’s no doubt if I need some days of practice, there might be some, you know, discussion and everything.
“So Wim also has to be patient. But I think he already knows that and he accepts that. So it depends, you know, it depends on what the tip is, if it’s like a big technical change or just a small adjustment, you know. And yeah, I would say I am a quick learner, but I’m this kind of player that really needs to like repeat the new thing from time to time.
“But I think everybody has it. Like the technique will sometimes go back to the old habits, you know. But yeah, everything he said for me made sense and if it didn’t, then we just had to talk more and he had to explain a bit more and then I had to try again and again and then it started working. So it depends on a certain situation.
“Does he come ready with proof now? Well, the proof is when I play it and when it works. So he has no influence on that kind of only I can prove if it’s good or bad.”
Iga Swiatek News
Iga Swiatek’s biggest problem identified by former world No 1 ahead of US Open
Swiatek and Fissette made technical changes to her game during the off-season as the former world No 1 often struggled on faster courts and they are finally reaping the rewards for the work they put in.
“We really focused on that [playing on faster courts]. The whole pre-season was basically about that. And I already could use some of these new skills kind of that I learned in Australia. But later on I think the season got a bit more complicated from other perspectives,” she revealed.
“So I wasn’t really in a good zone to win the tournaments. But I would say after Roland Garros, I kind of got back to my usual self and. And yeah, again, I would say the process of learning all this stuff that I learned in pre-season kind of came back.
“And for sure I used it on Wimbledon and on hard courts in Cincinnati. And we’ll see what’s going to come next.”
