Coach's reset helped 'stubborn' Swiatek find her feet

Former world No 1 teamed up with Wim Fissette late last year and turned stuttering form into a sixth slam win

- Simon Cambers

After Iga Swiatek's demolition of Amanda Anisimova on Saturday, the first person she thanked in her victory speech was her coach, Wim Fissette. The Belgian joined Swiatek's team at the end of last year, just before it was revealed that the Pole had tested positive for a banned drug. She finished a one-month ban in December, having proved that the failed test was the result of a contaminated sleeping pill.

The timing was far from ideal and shocked Swiatek, as well as the tennis world. Fissette, who won six grand slam titles with Kim Clijsters, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka, had some ideas he wanted to add to Swiatek's game but, as often happens, it took time to learn how best to get his message across.

In the clay-court season, where previously she had dominated, Swiatek suffered her first real dip in form since she became world No 1 in April 2022. Visibly stressed, she lost early in Stuttgart, was humbled by Coco Gauff in the Madrid semifinals and then lost in round two in Rome. But at Roland Garros, where she had won the title in four of the past five years, she looked a little more like her normal self. Though she lost in the semifinals to Aryna Sabalenka, her calmness was back.