Top-seeded Iga Swiatek announced via social media on Thursday that she has hired Wim Fissette as her new coach. Fissette has experience working with elite players, including Naomi Osaka, Kim Clijsters, and Victoria Azarenka. Swiatek has not participated in competitions since September 4, when she lost to eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Since then, she has withdrawn from the China Open and Korea Open. Swiatek is expected to feature in the season-ending WTA Finals, which will be held in November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
I’m excited and motivated to start a new chapter, posted the World No. 1 ranked Swiatek, who parted ways with Tomasz Wiktorowski two weeks ago after working three years together. As you know, I’m preparing for the WTA Finals, but my perspective is, as always, long-term, not short-term. I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint, and I’m working, operating, and making decisions with this approach, the Polish player added.
I want to say that I’m very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision, and huge experience at a very top level of tennis. Of course, it’s always important to get to know each other better, but we have a very good start to our cooperation. I can’t wait to get back to competing, Swiatek wrote on Thursday.
Swiatek is 54-7 this season with five titles and over $7.5 million in prize money. She achieved her third straight triumph in Paris at the French Open in June, her fourth in the previous five years, bringing her career total of Grand Slam victories to five. With Wiktorowski as her coach, four of those were achieved. In August, the 23-year-old Polish athlete won a bronze medal in the Olympics in Paris. She will be vying with Aryna Sabalenka for the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Fissette, who is Belgian and Swiatek’s first non-Polish coach, had worked with Osaka most recently and helped her win two of her four Grand Slam titles. He also was with Clijsters and Angelique Kerber for major championships. Other No. 1-ranked players Fissette has coached include Azarenka and Simona Halep.
I’m very excited to work with Iga and join her team. She is a role model for many female players thanks to the constant intensity with which she plays and the focus on work. I hope we will both improve and strive to fulfill our sports dreams, said Fissette.
Meanwhile, Alex de Minaur is expected to lead the Australian team in a star-studded Australian Open warm-up event that includes seven of the women’s world top 10. I’m very excited to play; it’s going to be a lot of fun. I had some good memories this year; that’s when I cracked the top 10 for the very first time. Any chance you get to represent Australia is always a lot of fun, de Minaur said.
It’s something unique (the United Cup)—you don’t do it too often; you have two singles and a mixed double. It’s something completely different for the fans, a lot of fun to watch and to be a part of, and I’m looking forward to competing, the 25-year-old Australian added.
The Aussie team’s energy is always great. We support each other; we have each other’s back. We are just there for each other. The bench is always quite loud and quite vocal, and I think it brings the best out of Aussie athletes, just being in a team environment, he concluded.
The tournament will begin with six groups of three nations—one half in Perth and the other half in Sydney—on December 27, before both cities host a semi-final tie ahead of the final in Sydney on January 5.
