World No.1 Iga Swiatek parts ways with personal coach, pens emotional note

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has parted ways with her personal coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, after an association of three years. On Friday (October 4), the 23-year-old Pole dropped an emotional note on her social media handle to announce her split with Wiktorowski, who also coached former world no.2 Agnieszka Radwanska from 2011 to 2018.

Wiktorowski joined Swiatek’s team at the end of the 2021 season. Under her coach, Swiatek went on to win four out of her five Grand Slams. She also replaced Ash Barty, who made a shock retirement in 2022, as the top-ranked player on the WTA tour. During that period, Swiatek went on a 37-match winning streak, bagged 19 out of 22 titles and won the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.

advertisement

Swiatek, who has won a hat-trick of French Open titles, also updated that she’s in talks with non-Polish coaches who could replace Wiktorowski.

“After 3 years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, we decided to part ways. I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together. Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for 3 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,” Swiatek wrote in a statement.

“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 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, with my fitness coach 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 travelling a lot and spend some well-deserved time with your loved ones and I hope you’ll get what you need,” Swiatek said.

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 in my career. I will let you know when I make a decision,” Swiatek added.

Swiatek last played any form of tennis in the US Open 2024 where she crashed out after losing to eventual runners-up Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals.

Click here to read article