World No 1 one Iga Swiatek announced this week that she has split with her coach of 3 years, Tomasz Wiktorowski, and has pulled out of next week’s Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open in China while she seeks to sign up a new non-Polish mentor.
Coach, THANK YOU, I wish you all the best. I know that you would like to rest after these 3 years of hard work and traveling a lot and spending some well deserved time with your loved ones and I hope you’ll get what you need. Iga Świątek
“After three years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, we decided to part ways,” Swiatek announced on Instagram. “I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together.
“Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for three seasons, when I strongly needed changes and a fresh approach to my game. His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and enormous knowledge about tennis helped us to achieve things I’ve never dreamed of only a few months after we started working together.
“Our main goal was to become No 1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first. We aimed very high, we headed to every tournament with a clear goal to win it. Together with coach Wiktorowski we won many tournaments and 4 Grand Slams.
“It happened thanks to my entire sports team, my fitness and physio Maciej Ryszczuk and my psychologist Daria Abramowicz on board.
”Coach, THANK YOU, I wish you all the best. I know that you would like to rest after these 3 years of hard work and traveling a lot and spending some well deserved time with your loved ones and I hope you’ll get what you need.
“Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start a cooperation with a new coach. I’m in the middle of first talks with coaches from abroad (non-Polish) because I’m ready to take the next step of my career. I will let you know when I make a decision.”
Iga Swiatek posing with her team – Daria Abramowicz (L), Tomasz Wiktorowski (C) and Maciej Ryszczuk (R) – and the French Open trophy in 2022
© Corinne Dubreuil/Pool/Getty Images
Swiatek hired Wiktorowski at the end of the 2021 season, and won 4 of her 5 Grand Slam titles working with him, establishing herself as the dominant force in women’s tennis, but she has not lifted a trophy since the French Open in June.
Together they engineered the longest win streak of the 2000s, reeling off 37 consecutive wins in 2022, capturing 19 of her 22 career titles and an Olympic silver medal this summer.
Last year, 43-year old Wiktorowski was voted the WTA’s Coach of the Year by his peers.
Swiatek is the third high-profile women’s player to change coach in a matter of weeks, with Naomi Osaka splitting from Wim Fissette after 4 years before starting to work with Patrick Mouratoglou, and Coco Gauff, whose 14-month partnership with Brad Gilbert came to an end 6 days later, now working with Matt Daly.
The 23-year Pole is looking to become a better all-surface player, and several successful coaches are in the running loop.
With her place at the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, already safely sealed, Swiatek can afford to take some time to consider her options.
The partnership with Wiktorowski was hugely successful, having joined her team at the end of 2021, and she has spent 123 weeks as the World No 1, but there have been recent signs that Swiatek has not been entirely happy with life, both on and off the court.
Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka’s 15-match win streak came to an end in the quarter-finals in Beijing with a 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4 defeat at the hands of Karolina Muchova, lessening the threat to Swiatek’s reign at the top of the rankings, although the Belarusian, who won her 3rd Grand Slam title at the US Open, still has a chance of finishing as the year-end World No 1 ahead of the Pole, which is perhaps another reason for the latter’s decision to act sooner rather than later.
Iga Swiatek, who has pulled out of Wuhan next week, is talking with non-Polish high profile coaches to find the right fit for her as she seeks to become an all-court player
© Luke Hales/Getty Images
With the coaching merry-go-round turning early tis season, one of the leading contenders to replace Wiktorowski is being mooted as Fissette, who has an impressive CV of former clients including Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Kim Clijsters.
In addition to Fissette, another candidate is Torben Beltz, who has not had an active coaching role for a couple of years now, and is best known for his work with Kerber across several different spells, most notably helping her win the Australian and US Open titles in 2016, and reach World No 1.
Also in the frame could be Craig Tyzzer, one of the most accomplished WTA coaches of recent years, who helped guide Ash Barty to the greatest heights of her career, with the Australian reaching World No 1 and winning 3 Grand Slam singles titles across her career.
He was able to get Barty’s game working on all surfaces, and helped her to continually improve at the top of the game.
Craig Boynton’s experience comes primarily with ATP players, but he has an impressive CV, and until recently, he worked with Swiatek’s compatriot Hubert Hurkacz for 5 years, taking him to a career-high of World No 6, two Masters 1000 titles, and a Wimbledon semi-final.
Swiatek withdrew from this week’s China Open, where she was the defending champion, and now has pulled out of next week’s WTA 1000 Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open.
“After an important change in my sports team, I decided to withdraw from the tournament in Wuhan,” Swiatek said in a statement on Friday. “I’m really sorry for fans in China and those who want to see me play, but I hope you understand that I need some time.”
Swiatek now has not played a match since her quarter-final defeat to Jessica Pegula at the US Open last month, but will have her eyes firmly fixed on the year-end WTA Finals in Riyadh, which begin on 2 November, while it remains to be seen if she will decide to play a lead-in warm-up event in the interim.
