"The fact that these men fail up makes me laugh"- Serena Williams' ex-coach weighs in on Iga Swiatek's new partnership with coach Wim Fissette

Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs recently shared her thoughts on Iga Swiatek working with coach Wim Fissette. Earlier this month, Swiatek announced that she had ended her three-year partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski and has started working with the Belgian coach.

Swiatek began working with Wiktorowski in 2021 and achieved remarkable success under his guidance, securing four Grand Slam titles - three French Open titles and one US Open title. She also clinched a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Iga Swiatek's first tournament with Wim Fissette as her coach will be the 2024 WTA Finals, where she will look to defend her title after winning it last year by defeating Jessica Pegula in the final. Fissette boasts an impressive coaching resume, having worked with top players like Kim Clijsters, Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, and Simona Halep.

During a recent episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast uploaded on October 23, Stubbs expressed that she was not surprised at Swiatek's choosing to work with Wim Fissette as her new coach. Claiming that there is a trend of male coaches quickly finding new players after parting ways with their previous ones, Stubbs said:

“I mean, are we surprised by this? Again this is not a slight on Wim Fissette, I want to get that straight. The fact that these men just fail up, it just makes me laugh. I’m not saying fail like failed, but they get fired and then they get picked up in one week to work with somebody else. It makes me laugh so much,” she said [36:40] .

Stubbs claimed that these coaches contact their agents when they know that their tenure with their players is coming to an end.

“They’ve [the coaches] all got agents. They contact the agents, the agents contact their agents. These coaches have agents and as soon as they’re about to get fired and they know they’re getting fired, they’re onto every other agent,” she continued [38:10].

Rennae Stubbs said that she believes that the partnership between Iga Swiatek and Wim Fissette will do "great" as the Belgian will bring in a fresh perspective and an upbeat personality as compared to Tomasz Wiktorowski.

“Listen what do I think about how it’s going to go... I think it’ll go great because Wim will come in with new ideas and fresh ideas, he’s a little bit and not a little bit he’s a lot more upbeat and a lot more positive than Tomasz [Wiktorowski],” Rennae Stubbs said [40:10].

Stubbs expressed that the former World No.1 will flourish under Fissete's guidance and "look like a legend."

“Working with Iga or something ‘cause Iga clearly when she’s on the court, she gets very stressed and all the things you see and you have to be able to monitor that. I think Iga will probably do great and will look like a legend,” she added [40:34].

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“New coach coming in is tough because Iga Swiatek has been the best player in tennis” - Andy Roddick on the Pole working with Wim Fissette

Iga Swiatek at the 2024 US Open [Source: Getty]

During a recent episode of the 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast, Roddick gave his thoughts on Iga Swiatek's new partnership with coach Wim Fissette.

Roddick talked about the challenge Fissette will face, of bringing fresh ideas to a player of Swiatek's caliber, who has dominated the WTA tour for quite some time now.

“New coach coming in is maybe, I don't know, tough because the player [Iga Swiatek] you're dealing with is currently number one and has been the best player in tennis for the last four years at scale,” Roddick said [11:12].

Iga Swiatek last competed at the 2024 US Open, where she made it to the quarterfinals before falling to eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula. She will next play at the WTA Finals which will take place from November 2 to November 9, 2024, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.