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Iga Swiatek's new coach Wim Fissette is optimistic about her chances in the upcoming grass court season and has claimed that Wimbledon would be the toughest Grand Slam to win for her. The Pole has won five Grand Slam titles so far, with four of them coming at the French Open.
Swiatek has been highly dominant on hard and clay courts and bears a similar playing style as that of Rafael Nadal, who won 14 French Open titles. She, however, has struggled on grass courts and is yet to win a Wimbledon title.
The 23-year-old's best finish at Wimbledon came during the 2023 season, losing to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals in three sets. She faced a third-round exit from the 2024 Championships before splitting with former coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and bringing in Wim Fissette, who believes Wimbledon would be the hardest Grand Slam to win for the World No. 2.
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However, he also believes Swiatek possesses the skills required to win a Wimbledon championship and is optimistic about her chances in the upcoming grasscourt season. Speaking with The National in an interview, he said (translated from Spanish):
"I think Wimbledon will probably be the most difficult Grand Slam for her to win, but I see potential. You look at some past champions, Simona Halep, Vondrousova… either you have great hitters, or you have some who move incredibly well on grass. Iga I think moves very well and can also hit the ball very hard. She has great return and I see things in her game that can be very positive for the grass season."
The Belgian also shared his improvement plans for the Polish player in the upcoming season, claiming that she needed to stay true to her natural game when playing off clay courts.
"In general, off clay I think she sometimes feels like she really has to change her game too much. So when she plays against big hitters she feels like maybe she has to hit harder than them. In that sense, I feel like she has to stay a little bit more true to her game and use her weapons, like the big topspin," he said.
Fissette further added that he wanted to make Iga Swiatek's famed forehand stronger, both in offense and defense.
"I think the forehand is a weapon, but I want to make it a bigger weapon, maybe be a little bit stronger in defense as well and improve the serve a little bit with more speed and more precision," he said.
Iga Swiatek hopes to work on her 'serve' with Wim Fissete during the off-season
Speaking at a press conference in Riyadh during the WTA Finals, Iga Swiatek claimed she wasn't a complete player yet and hoped to work on her serve with new coach Wim Fissette.
"I for sure want to improve my serve, as I’ve been doing for past years. I feel like I still need to continue that. For sure I’m not a complete player," she said.
She further added that the Belgian had some interesting plans for her to improve her tactics.
“I think tactically there are many ways I could go and have more variety on court. Wim has some nice ideas. Honestly for now we’ve just been preparing for this tournament and getting to know each other," Iga Swiatek said.
The 23-year-old was the defending champion at the event but faced a group stage exit from the tournament. She finished the season with a 61-9 win/loss record.
