Latest news with #WimFissette
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Coach reset helped Swiatek turn ban nightmare into a Wimbledon dream
After Iga Swiatek's demolition of Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final on Saturday, the first person she thanked in her victory speech was her coach, Wim Fissette. The Belgian joined Swiatek's team at the end of last year, just before it was revealed that the Pole had tested positive for a banned drug. She finished a one-month ban in December, having proved that the failed test was the result of a contaminated sleeping pill. The timing was far from ideal and shocked Swiatek, as well as the tennis world. Fissette, one of the sport's leading coaches who won six grand-slam titles with Kim Clijsters, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka, had some ideas he wanted to add to Swiatek's game but, as often happens, it took time to learn how best to get his message across. In the clay-court season, where previously she had dominated, Swiatek suffered her first real dip in form since she became world No 1 in April 2022. Visibly stressed, she lost early in Stuttgart, was humbled by Coco Gauff in the Madrid semi-finals and then lost in round two in Rome. But at Roland Garros, where she had won the title in four of the past five years, she looked a little more like her normal self. Though she lost in the semi-finals to Aryna Sabalenka, her calmness was back. 'Those two tournaments [Madrid and Rome] were definitely difficult for her,' Fissette told a small group of reporters on the player lawn, putting down a glass of champagne as he and the team celebrated Swiatek's first Wimbledon title and sixth slam title overall. '[It was] probably just very high expectations and then it was just getting too much. But even in Paris she was already much calmer. I felt after Rome there was a good switch and more focus on, let's say, developing as a player. We tried to improve a few things and she was really focusing on that more than about just winning, winning, winning. That helped her also to stay a bit more calm.' In her last-16 win over Elena Rybakina at the French Open, Swiatek was trailing by a set and 2-0, seemingly on her way to another bruising defeat, when Fissette told her to stand a little deeper to return serve. It worked, the 24-year-old storming back for a victory which did a lot to restore her confidence. 'I advised her many times, but that's one she listened [to],' Fisette said, smiling. After the turnaround in Paris, Fissette saw an opportunity to suggest some changes to Swiatek's footwork on grass, a surface that she had never fully trusted herself on, even if she did win the junior title here in 2019. 'On the grass, there was an opening because she never had success,' he said. 'It was not easy to convince her but once she was convinced, she got better every day. She just texted me, actually, from the locker room, to say: 'Maybe it was not a bad idea, that point.'' A couple of hours later on Saturday, as she completed more than two hours of media commitments after the final, Swiatek smiled as Fissette's comments were relayed to her. 'The first thing I would change in myself is my stubbornness,' she said. 'Sometimes I need a little persuading. Honestly, on grass, it didn't take him a lot of time, because I thought I have so many things to improve [and] I felt that he has more experience on grass than I did. 'It took us a couple of practices but when I saw what I can do with this different footwork, I completely committed to it and I was 100% ready on every practice to do that. I think after a couple of months, he already [knew] that he needs to sometimes force his ideas for me to actually start doing that because any new thing at first feels weird, and I'm only going to trust it when I'm going to feel that's it's actually getting better.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Swiatek's performances during the two weeks here proved not only that she can play on grass but that she is back to her best after a difficult period. She has rarely served as well; her ground strokes were devastating and her movement outstanding. Swiatek is a superstar in Poland, on a par with Robert Lewandowski, and she is also keeping star company these days, with Courteney Cox in her player box for the final, the pair having connected recently at a sponsor event in Paris. 'I didn't know she was going to come here,' Swiatek said. 'We're in touch, but I'm glad that she didn't text me, because when I know that someone famous is going to watch me I get stressed.' There's nothing like a grand slam victory to restore equilibrium and so Swiatek will now head to the hard-court season in the United States with renewed confidence. 'She's still super-young, just turned 24, to have this success,' Fissette said. 'And there's still a lot of room for improvement. I hope to see a better player next year, same time.'
The Independent
12-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Iga Swiatek hits out at media after winning first Wimbledon title: ‘Leave me alone'
New Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek has hit out at the media's coverage of her this season, saying: 'Leave me alone.' Swiatek swept aside America's Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in only 57 minutes to win her first Wimbledon title and sixth grand slam in all, cementing her place as the best player of the current generation. But the Pole has come under scrutiny this season after a dip in form and a slide down the rankings, following the turmoil of her one-month ban from the sport last year. Swiatek had not won an event for 13 months before triumphing on Centre Court, and her decision to switch coach to Wim Fissette late last year was one that was questioned at the time. Asked whether she'd answered her critics, Swiatek replied: 'Honestly, things that we as public people and as athletes, we can really react to everything, and we've got to just focus on ourselves. Sometimes it's easier to do that, sometimes it's harder. 'And for sure, the past few months, how the media sometimes described me – and I've got to say, unfortunately, Polish media – how they treated me and my team, it wasn't really pleasant. So I hope they will just leave me alone and let me do my job, because obviously you can see that we know what we're doing, and I have the best people around me. 'I have already proved a lot. I know people want more and more, but it's my own process and my own life and my own career. So hopefully I'm gonna have the freedom from them as well to let me do my job.' Swiatek maintained her unblemished record in grand slam finals, making it six titles and becoming the first Polish player, male or female, to win a Wimbledon singles trophy. By adding the grass-court title to her four French Open crowns and one US Open trophy she has also now won slams on all the surfaces. She had never previously been beyond the Wimbledon quarter-finals, and she said: 'It's something that is just surreal. I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself. 'I think the fact that it's on grass, for sure it makes it more special, I would say, and more unexpected. So it feels like the emotions are bigger because, at Roland Garros, I know I can play well, and I know I can show it every year. Here, I wasn't sure of that. I also needed to prove that to myself.' Anisimova's comeback has been one of the stories of the fortnight, with the former teenage prodigy having stepped away from tennis for eight months in 2023 for mental health reasons. She came into the final off the back of a semi-final victory over Aryna Sabalenka but from the start appeared paralysed by nerves. Anisimova's serve deserted her and there were many more errors than winners off the ground. The crowd, who had paid more than £300 each per ticket, willed the American to find a foothold in the contest but Swiatek was utterly ruthless. Another treat for the Pole was receiving the trophy from the Princess of Wales. 'On court she just congratulated (me),' said Swiatek. 'She told me some nice stuff about the performance. Later on, I don't remember really because I was too overwhelmed. 'I didn't want to do any faux pas. I wanted to behave well. Overall the process of getting the trophy from Her Royal Highness was something surreal. Since I'm a kid, honestly I'm a big fan of the Royal family. It was amazing.'
New York Times
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
French Open women's semifinals: Iga Swiatek's serve and what next for Lois Boisson
Follow The Athletic's French Open coverage Welcome to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament. On day 12 at Roland Garros, one of the most remarkable streaks in modern tennis ended, a home hope looked forward and a doubles winner had to take a tough loss. Reflecting on the brilliance of a streak that ended in a 0-6 set right after losing that set is a tough ask, but it's exactly what Iga Świątek did following her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semifinals. 'I love playing here, so for sure I'm happy that I was fortunate enough to play so many great tournaments here. Even this one, you know, I feel like I played better than weeks before,' she said in her news conference. Advertisement 'So for sure, I'm just happy that I have this place to come back to every year and just try to push myself.' Before her last-four loss, Świątek had won 26 French Open matches in a row. She had entered this year's event as she has every event this season: with the ambition to win it while ingraining fundamental changes to her tennis, alongside coach Wim Fissette. During an interview with The Athletic earlier this year, Świątek explained that the evolution she wants in her tennis — playing with more shape, and ultimately variety, after a series of losses in which she hit the ball too flat under pressure and made mistakes — will only become apparent over a longer period. 'It's hard to see the changes because they're little. I know. They only seem big on a bigger horizon,' she said. She now has a long period of the season in which she has very few ranking points to defend, in which she will be able to test and iterate on ideas without the pressure of 4,000 points on her back, which she had carried through the Madrid Open, the Italian Open and Roland Garros. One of those ideas will need to enhance one shot: Her serve. Calling it a weakness is overstating the case, but in her match against Sabalenka, the ease with which the world No. 1 could steal free points in comparison to Świątek was eye-opening. It is hard to win free points on clay, especially against a returner as imperious and opportunistic as Sabalenka. But having a first serve that wins the point less than one time out of two, as Świątek managed in the opening set, is just not enough for someone of her standing in the sport. In her previous match against Elina Svitolina, she ended proceedings with three aces in one game. The small changes are there. They may only seem big on a bigger horizon James Hansen Whither Loïs Boisson? Good question. A few weeks ago, she probably figured she'd play a match or two at Roland Garros and then return to the ITF circuit, where she is 14-6 on the year, to try and reach the top 100. She's there now, in the 60s, after going from French No. 24 to French No. 1 in the space of a fortnight. She can think about some different tournaments, and maybe even a wild card into Wimbledon. At the very least there will be qualifying for SW19. Advertisement 'Of course the program will change. It won't be what was planned at the beginning, considering my upcoming ranking,' Boisson said. But she's not planning any other changes to her team or her life: 'It works well, and I don't see why I would change much.' Coco Gauff, who knows something about sudden exposure had some words of advice for her about the spotlight, especially given the dearth of top French women. She should stay true to herself and what the people around her expect, not anyone else. 'I think she has her head on her right shoulders,' Gauff said. 'It's going to be probably a weird few months for her, but I think the more it happens, the more you get used to it.' Matt Futterman Taylor Townsend and, well, anyone is turning out to be a pretty formidable mixed-doubles team. Townsend partnered Donald Young to the mixed doubles final at the U.S. Open in September, long after everyone figured Young had left tennis behind. They lost in the final to Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori of Italy, which is becoming a bit of a tough draw for Townsend in mixed doubles. This week in Paris, she partnered Evan King, who had had a fine but unremarkable doubles career until the past few months. King, 33, joined up with fellow American Christian Harrison at the back end of the 2024 season, and the duo has been on a tear in 2025, winning two titles and 24 matches together to enter the top three of the ATP Doubles Race to Turin, in which the eight best pairs of the year compete. King and Harrison are in the men's doubles semifinals, where they will face British pair Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, but Townsend and King went to the final of the mixed doubles. They lost, as is becoming a bit too familiar to Townsend, to Errani and Vavassori. Advertisement Townsend also continued her women's doubles partnership with Kateřina Siniaková. They won Wimbledon last year and Australian Open in January, which made them the top seeds in Paris but lost in the quarterfinals. Matt Futterman Tell us what you noticed on the 12th day… (Top photo of Iga Świątek: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic)
Daily Mail
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Iga Swiatek finds her mojo as she digs in and stages thrilling comeback to beat Elena Rybakina and avoid punishing French Open knockout
A euro for the thoughts of tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, who runs her prime-time night sessions like a snooty Pall Mall gentleman's club, after four superb women's matches at the French Open. Aryna Sabalenka 's tight straight-sets win over Amanda Anisimova, Zheng Qinwen's three-set victory against Liudmila Samsonova, Elina Svitolina 's Houdini act from a set and 4-1 down to Jasmine Paolini - any of these would have graced Philippe Chatrier under the lights. But the match of the day was Iga Swiatek against Elena Rybakina. The four-time champion Swiatek, so wobbly this year, so vulnerable to sustained aggression, lost eight of the first nine games. At 6-1, 2-0, former Wimbledon champion Rybakina was in sublime form. So close to another humiliating defeat, the real Swiatek emerged and said: Not this time. The No 5 seed dug in and after two sets of sensational ball-striking back and forth, prevailed 1-6, 6-3, 7-5. 'It means a lot,' said the Pole, 24. 'I needed that kind of win to feel I'm able to win under pressure, even if it's not going the right way. It's a great confirmation. I'm happy that I fought and problem-solved.' Swiatek has been doing neither of those things recently, and if she goes on to deliver a fourth title in a row here and relocate her mojo, this match can be chalked up as the turning point. Kudos, too, to her coach Wim Fissette, whose excellent resume has not been improved by presiding over her decline. Swiatek began to stand further back to return Rybakina's serve and that gave her the breathing room she needed. 'Wim convinced me to try it out,' said Swiatek. 'I wasn't sure if that's my thing, because a few years back when I started being more aggressive, I started winning more. 'But girls are serving faster now, there are limits to what you can react to. The coaching really helped me today; I wouldn't come up with this myself.'
New York Times
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Iga Swiatek's French Open of the mind starts with good tennis habits
ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — The French Open started just three days ago, but it has already seen a few different versions of Iga Świątek, who has essentially owned this tournament the past three years. On Friday, there was the version of Świątek whose tennis career has, of late, morphed into a somewhat public psychology experiment. Each match and each appearance in front of a microphone becomes a representation of the inner workings of her brain, rather than a discussion about the inner workings of her tennis, which is peerless at its best. Advertisement On Sunday, there was the Świątek who has long been a Rafael Nadal follower. Clad in one of the burnt-orange 'Merci Rafa' T-shirts, Świątek teared up amid the 15,000 fans who gathered to celebrate the 14-time Roland Garros champion on Court Philippe-Chatrier. On Monday, the most familiar Roland Garros version of Świątek appeared: the four-time champion who has won three titles in a row. The player who has not lost in this tournament since 2021, who mostly rolls through opponents with a relentless efficiency. Even better for Świątek's purposes, she was a combination of the old and new versions of herself against Rebecca Šramková of Slovakia on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 win. She resisted any urge to revert to bad habits in stressful moments. Instead, she made the sort of decisions that she and her coach, Wim Fissette, have been trying to ingrain since they started working together last year. Perhaps that had something to do with playing on her favorite court, where her dominance had plenty in common with the guy she was getting misty about 17 hours before she won. It's not a magical elixir, but this is the first time in a while that Świątek hasn't shown up to Roland Garros on the back of a dominant clay court season. It's something. 'For sure, I feel a lot of good energy, and I feel like I'm ready to fight, you know, I am willing to fight,' Świątek said in a news conference after it was over. 'And it's great to be pumped up before the match because of that, so I'm using it.' The win took her French Open record to 36-2. Nadal went 112-4. And the conversation was about what was going on inside her head rather than in her hands. The two are very much related, and there was plenty of evidence of that against Šramková — but not the evidence of the past year. Of late, when Świątek falls behind to an opponent like Šramková, who can slash winners from all parts of the court and roll downhill with little warning, she has fought fire with fire. Her formula for a while has been that when swinging hard isn't working, swing harder, which has led to more frustration than wins. Early in the second set of their match, Šramková caught fire. She cracked forehands down the line and slid about the court, keeping Świątek on her heels and going 3-1 up with a break of serve. Świątek was unmoved. She held serve for *3-2 Šramková and then got to 0-30. Then she then jumped on the next two serves, but she didn't try to bang her way out of trouble, as she has for months now, she curled an inside-in backhand into an open area well inside the sideline. Then she did the same thing with an inside-in forehand. She'd hit those winners with both her hands but also with her head, something that had been missing in recent, one-sided losses to Coco Gauff and Danielle Collins in two of her past three matches. Advertisement She'd said in Rome that her shortcomings were all about her 'mindset,' that she wasn't showing up ready to fight like she says she has done in Paris. Few players in the modern game have put more emphasis on their psyche. Arguably the most important member of her team is her sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, who is a constant travel companion, in her box for nearly every match and usually on the court during practices. Świątek said she has leaned as hard as ever on Abramowicz in a trying past year, in which she lost the No. 1 ranking and went through an anti-doping investigation and suspension. Those experiences, she said, have caused her to struggle with her focus on the court, and occasionally lose her temper, as she did when she smacked a ball out of the court during a loss at Indian Wells to Mirra Andreeva. In an email earlier this month, Świątek wrote that her state of mind is a priority, now and moving forward. 'Mental health awareness has always been, and will continue to be, a significant topic for me,' she wrote. 'I have consistently been open about the vital role that both mental preparation and maintaining mental health play in top-level sports. It's crucial that we recognize the distinction between a momentary lapse in focus or facing a couple of minor challenges, and genuinely struggling mentally, as these phrases convey very different meanings. 'To be clear, I am content with my life and my mental well-being. However, that doesn't negate the fact that I could sometimes be more efficient with my focus and energy management, which is an area I'm actively working on, as a part of my performance. I truly appreciate the support and guidance my team provides, both on and off the court, as they share their knowledge and expertise with me. It's all about finding the right balance that works for me, and I will make my decisions based on that.' Advertisement On Monday, she said she might also lean on the advice of her tennis hero for the rest of the tournament, which continues against Britain's Emma Raducanu. Świątek spoke of looking to Nadal at times when she felt lost. She sees someone who never lost sight of his goals and his values, even in adversity. Even Nadal would sometimes come to Roland Garros in a bad run of form. More often than not, he found his way. Świątek ran into him in a Paris hotel in 2021, after he had lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. 'I was devastated that he lost,' she said. Nadal was at breakfast. She approached and asked him how he felt. 'He was chill, like, 'Oh, it's just a tennis match. I'll get many more chances.' 'I was like, 'What? Why am I crying if he's not crying?'' she said.
