"You don't remember tournaments where Serena Williams suffered devastating defeat" - Iga Swiatek's new coach shares valuable insight into his approach

Iga Swiatek's new coach Wim Fissette said this week that Serena Williams' tournament wins are remembered much more than her early exits from events as well as matches that the legendary American lost by significant margins. Fissette's comments came in response to a question about the perception of Swiatek's losses in her native Poland.

During an interview, Fissette was asked if he is ready to deal with the consequences of fans in Poland treating Iga Swiatek's losses like national tragedies. The renowned coach spoke about the role losses play in a player's career and cited the example of former World No. 1 and 23-time singles Major winner Serena Williams. Fissette said (via Przeglad Sportowy Onet),

"Failures will always be a part of a career. I think when you look back at Serena Williams, she had an incredible career, right? You only remember the highlights, the flashes. You don't remember the tournaments where she lost in the first round or suffered a devastating defeat."

Wim Fissette's appointment as former World No.1 Iga Swiatek's new coach was announced by the Pole on October 17 this year via social media. The announcement came shortly after the five-time Major winner let go of Tomasz Wiktorowski's services. Wiktorowski joined Swiatek's team at the end of 2021 and guided her to the 2022 US Open title and four French Open titles.

Fissette has seen significant success as a coach, having led the likes of Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, and Naomi Osaka to Grand Slam titles previously. The Belgian, a former professional tennis player, had once shared his appreciation of Serena Williams.

While Fissette never got the opportunity to coach Williams, he did have to train his former pupils to face the 23-time singles Grand Slam champion on numerous occasions.

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"The best female player of all time" - When Iga Swiatek's new coach's praised Serena Williams

Wim Fissette (L) and Iga Swiatek (R) (Source: Getty)

In May this year, Iga Swiatek's new coach Wim Fisette appeared as a guest on the Australian Open's "The Sit-Down" podcast. Here, the Belgian hailed Serena Williams as the best women's tennis player in history and also revisited how he would set up his pupils to come out on top against the former World No. 1.

Fissette said,

"Serena, I mean obviously the best female player of all time. I have so much respect for her. If you would just stay mentally like believing that there was always kind of a window where she was like going down a bit (with her) level and that was I felt that was always the moment that you needed to do be ready for.

"And because she won so many matches easily, she was also not too comfortable when it would go to a five-all or a six-all level because it was like she was not experiencing that a lot."

Six of Fissette's former pupils managed to come out on top against Williams, who bid farewell to tennis at the 2022 US Open after a shock third-round loss.