“He will handle the whole process”

Almost a month has passed since the shock elimination of Iga Swiatek from the first match played in the tournament WTA 1000 from Miamiduring which many things happened. He fired his coach, Fr Wim Fissetteand started a new collaboration, alongside Francisco Roig.

He also spent time at Rafa Nadal Academyin preparation for the European clay season, and benefited from valuable advice from the 14-time Roland Garros champion.

Now it's time for him to transfer to the official matches everything he adjusted, added or polished during this time and he will do it in the tournament WTA 500 from Stuttgart. A special contest, contested on indoor clay, in different conditions, but which the former world leader won twice, 2022 and 2023.

Favorite 3 in the main draw, she will have the first free round, then she will meet the winner of the match Laura Siegemund (Germany) – Victoria Tomova (Bulgaria). Iga is in the top half of the grid, the first seed it can face being the recent champion from Linz, Mirra Andreeva.

Iga Swiatek: “I am very happy to have started the collaboration with Francis”

Before going into action, Swiatek talked about these weeks being full of events, but also time to reflect on pertinent decisions. He said the process of finding a new coach can be “complicated”, especially since he had only done so twice before.

It finally stopped at Francisco Roig (58 years old), the one who was part of his team Rafael Nadal between 2005 and 2022, and recently worked with Emma Raducanu.

“I am very happy to have started the collaboration with Francis,” she told the press. “Basically, I was looking for someone with a good eye, very technical, but also experienced enough to help me through different situations. I feel like Francisco has probably been through everything on the circuit“, highlighted Iga.

“It's going very well. It's a start. We still know each other. Honestly, it was a pretty quick process. I managed to find a new coach quite quickly, which is a positive thing, because obviously when you do this in the middle of the season it's good to have some security about it, so I was already able to have a training period with Francisco in Mallorca“, she added, quoted by WTA.

He then stated that he specifically wanted to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy because “I knew what the facilities were like there, I knew the courts. And that I can work hard there without any other distractions.”

10Iga Swiatek has clay titles in his record, including 4 at Roland Garros, and two other lost finals

Iga Swiatek: “To be a source of inspiration, but also to give me feedback”

It was a perfect occasion for Swiatek, who was grateful to have had the chance to meet Nadal, as well as Roig, in Mallorca. This brought “added value” process of finding a coach, she said. Swiatek also confirmed that Nadal will not be part of her team permanently, but she was honored to train with him.

“I asked him if it would be possible for him to come and be a source of inspiration, but also give me feedback“Swiatek said. “It was really a privilege to have him on the field. Honestly, I didn't have too many expectations because I know he's very busy and has a lot of things to do, different projects and all kinds of activities,” Iga said.

“Now I will continue with Francisco. He will be the person who will handle the entire process. This is the plan for now, and I have no other“, she also said.

If you have already won many titles, there will always be expectations, both from you and from those around you. I think my expectations were too high for the level I was playing at. I wasn't playing that well. So it was quite painful. It's like a cold shower

That's why my expectations would be to improve on the training ground, then maybe in matches, but not to be too hard on myself, not to judge too quickly, but to go through the whole process. As they say, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. I would like to come to the next tournaments with this mindset – Iga Swiatek