Wim Fissette, Iga Świątek and why coaching a generational talent is a challenge
After all these years spent coaching some of the best players to lift a tennis racket, Wim Fissette knows and accepts the rules of the game. When results don’t match a player’s expectations, the player can’t fire herself. If other members of the team — a trainer, a sports psychologist, a physiotherapist — have been around longer and have a deeper relationship with her, then the axe falls on the coach.
That’s one of the reasons Fissette, one of the most respected and successful coaches on the WTA Tour, was not surprised late last month when he learned that Iga Świątek , the reigning Wimbledon champion and a six-time Grand Slam winner, no longer required his services. “There are some teams that can stay really calm under, let’s say, difficult conditions. Others feel like something needs to change.
” Fissette said during an interview this week. “As in every sport, it’s always first the coach that has to go. At the highest level in sports, this is part of the job.
You have to accept that. ” Still, these moments are never easy. Fissette not only helped Świątek win her first Wimbledon title.
Together, they started a tennis journey that Świątek wants to continue after Fissette has gone, using the foundations of her tennis past to construct her tennis future. “I want to be a wall on the court,” she said during an interview with Sport. pl this week, ahead of hiring Francisco Roig to replace Fissette.
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