Well, she always called him "coach Tomasz/coach Wiktorowski." Out of respect but at the end of the day he was the guy she hired to work for her and they achieved many of their goals together. I believe her loses at the Olympics and USO pushed her to make some drastic changes and contrary to what many people say, I think the timing was right. Obviously, staying at #1 is no longer the goal this season. If it was, she'd have travelled to China with Dawid Celt - Poland's Billie Jean King Cup captain and Aga's husband (that's what Rybakina did in NY). If she hires a new coach now they will have over 2 months before Australia to try new things and to get to know each other. There's this interview w Iga from 3 years ago, soon after she hired Tomasz where she said that she might be ready for an international coach in 1-2 years, so it seems that the time has come. Curious to see who it's gonna be.
The vibe could be partially because of Tomasz, who does not familiarize with players e.g. he stays at a different hotel, does not go to dinner together, overall, tries to keep some distance in the relationship. That's his style of coaching. As to the statement, it means more that she called him The Coach (capital C) than that she did not call him Tomek. Shows her respect.
I was not surprised. I saw it coming a mile away and was actually hoping that she would find a new coach so her love for the game can shine through again. That team including the psychologist was too militant and she didn't need that.
To the point that Iga said it so formal. I think it's because of how polish etiquette works. Normally, with such an age gap you should say "sir" every time you are referring to someone. To avoid this very formal "sir" in every sentence (this is how our language works), they went with saying per "coach", so it's a middle ground between formality and informality.
Oh ok, I had noticed that she was often referring to him as Coach Wiktorowski/Coach Tomasz but I didn't really think anything of it and didn't know this could be the reason why, good to know (and interesting to learn about as someone who's very interested in languages but doesn't know much about Polish - yet)!
Iga's statement is very RESPECTFUL and very warm. Tomasz Wiktorowski is not her buddy, he was a mentor, whom she respects and appreciates. What may seem "jarring" to you, is actually extremely polite. You are definitely misreading a cultural difference.
I hope whoever she chooses to work with can help her find her love of tennis again. I enjoyed the Iga of 2020. The person she has become is painful to watch and does not seem to enjoy tennis at all. She only seems to enjoy winning…..and I don’t even know if it’s really enjoying it as much as it is that she is relieved.
All of the speculations aside: I think it’s good she is taking a break, no matter what the reasons were. I was hoping she was going to make some changes within her team as there was no progress in her game. She can be a complete player again and so she should. Slice, drop shots, net game back into play, please ! No need to worry about anything! I think it’s very exciting she had a courage to make this move ❤ And Tomasz Wiktorowski needs a long holiday he deserves as she stated in her announcement. Its a win-win.
Iga wanted to play in Seoul, Beijing and Wuhan. However, when she went home after the US Open, it must have hit her that her Wimbledon hasn't improved an inch, the Olympics ended up in a disappointment, her loss in Cincinatti to Sabalenka in straight sets was probably very painful, or to Pegula at the US Open. For the three years, her serve has not improved much....Aga Radwanska, whom Wiktorowski trained in the past, used to have the same problem. Additionally, watch how Iga won her first Roland Garros in 2020. She used to be a great all-around player at the age of 19! She used to train with Piotr Sierzputowski back then. Where are all those slices, drop shots or the net game she used to have in her arsenal? Let's be honest, while others on the tour have been improving, Iga's game for the last three years has been more less the same. It is a great move they have separated. Finally! Go, Iga!
Tomaz really focused on what she did well and it worked. Very well but not has a ceiling. Iga was also sick recently. I don’t know how big of an issue that is.
I have to laugh at the remark, that Iga's serve has not improved in three years. If your eyes fail you, perhaps you should take a look at her serve stats, and compare them to Aryna and Elena's serve stats.
One point on formality when change has been announced, I think it’s ok for a Polish person and it’s an improvement. Were you are aware that she fired her previous coach through an SMS?
Andy Murray?!! Oh yes please. His personality traits, his Scottishnes, his appreciation of women tennis and not the last aspect he likes her. The whole package . Re her timing- spur of the moment, completely unprepared, emotional .Not a good start to a new chapter but she is a great, talented player so maybe it will work out for her. My fingers crossed.
I agree with you both. I am surprised as well. Even more surprised she didnt wait till end of season. She just gave number one spot to Sabalenka. Can she get it back? It will be very difficult because Sabalenka will have many tournament to gain more and more points. But we need to trust Iga. I cant wait for the news who will be new coach for her! And I miss her on court. Can she win WTA Finals after such a long break?
The personal matters that Iga wrote about when withdrawing from the tournament in Beijing turned out to be neither rest nor mental fatigue after the Olympics and the US Open (although that probably happened), but a change that will hopefully bring good results. Iga's text suggests that the coach needed a rest after three intense years, that they made the decisions together. As if coach Wiktorowski had had enough of everything that was going on around Iga and the staff, constant gossip, comments, hate for everyone and the guy decided to spend time with his family. And if there were any misunderstandings at the end, we will never know what they were. The farewell to the coach is a bit similar to the previous farewell, because it started similarly to Sierzputowski's farewell, which took place in the match with Sakkari in the Finals in 2021, when Iga burst into tears, then there was a joint press conference and a few days later she said goodbye to the coach. And now a similar situation - during training at the US Open, Iga leaves the court and cries, does not react to the coach's commands, and during the meeting with Pegula, does not react to the coach's words either. The turning point in their cooperation was the semi-final of the IO. Iga and the coach that they were not happy, the coach's texts may not have been similar to Iga's, who said that the semi-final IO broke her heart, that she was in mourning, that it was the most painful defeat in her entire career, she did not finish the interview, but the coach's first opinions were more bitter than sweet. What happened in the semi-final IO began to affect the relationship between the coach and the tennis player, that they stopped getting along, which was visible in the USA. However, I thought that there would be no dismissal because it was not the first such situation since the beginning of their cooperation. The lost match with Ostapenko at last year's US Open looked similar to the match with Pegula at the US Open this year - Iga sent pleading glances to her team, and the team sat there without any reaction. And many wondered if she might say goodbye to someone, but they rise in China and in the Finals. And one of the reasons I didn't believe that she would get fired/leave coach is that this is Iga's second best season, even if she doesn't play in the Finals, when you look at the results. I also couldn't imagine Iga choosing a coach from abroad. And yet she decided to take such a bold step. I hope that if it's a coach from abroad, he won't care about the Polish hell, they won't explain to him what Poles write in the comments, on forums, he won't care about the opinions of [olish coaches and commentators.
2. Behind closed doors, things were supposed to be really hot, and even Abramowicz's urgent intervention didn't help. At the beginning of October, a sensational piece of news broke: Iga Świątek is ending her cooperation with her previous coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski. The tennis player announced this on her Instagram profile, where in a long post she thanked her former coach and at the same time announced that she was starting a search for a new coach. This time from outside Poland. Immediately after this sensational news appeared, an avalanche of questions started: what happened in Świątek's staff?
After the Olympics and the American summer hard court season I thought it was clear she needed a change. Sure her clay dominice continued this year but… When she gets in trouble on hard or grass she just kinda panic and her game fall apart. On clay she can get out of trouble eventually (see the Osaka match at RG) but on other surfaces she cleary struggles.
1.Polish Media: here's the inside story of Iga Świątek's breakup with her coach. She said: "Enough!" Iga Świątek wasn't supposed to thank Tomasz Wiktorowski, but he was supposed to thank her. The key to all of this was supposedly the dominant role of Daria Abramowicz. "The coach himself decided to stop this choleric dance with Iga's psychologist and finally said: "Enough!"" - the i.pl service describes the inside story of what was supposedly happening in the Polish woman's team. And that's not all.
@@joannagrzywna545 I am not Polish apparently but yeah, when they talk about how Iga refers to her coach, I am like hey In some cultures we call our teacher, or an older person we respect, Mr / Miss / Prof Something, at least in public, even if we have been actual friends over the years… they shouldn’t make this kind of speciation or even judgement based on a detail like this.
I have the feeling Iga was a little bit stagnationed. In particular she could find solutions when matchs got thigh, and her serve wasn't dominant. May be Iga thinks she needs somethnig extra to be more consistent on grass and hard courts eventhouthg she won super big ttitles on hard.
Yes, as David said, the real question is what Iga is looking for in making the change. My hope is that she wants to fix the technical flaws in her game: the wonky serve, the late preparation and too big backswing on her forehand, as well as, what you all have well noted, the one-dimensional strategy and tactics to her game. I hope it’s not just a “new voice” to change her motivation. I hope the same for Naomi and Coco. I especially hope that her win in China does not fool Coco into thinking that her problems have been solved. Her path to the title was the same as it has always been: a super favorable draw (the highest seed she faced was #15 Paula Badosa), other players taking out the high seeds, and an opponent in the finals who self-destructed. That’s not a recipe that can be counted on. I believe that she has the most talent and highest upside of anyone on tour, but she will never achieve that with her current technique. I hope they take all inspiration from Aryna, who did take the time to work on her serve and forehand, and who is now at the point where only the highest level of play from an accomplished opponent can beat her. Her match with Karolina Muchova represents, for me, the pinnacle of the sport, from two players whose technical mastery is at such a high level.
I really wonder what business we have being surprised - Iga has very clearly stagnated in the last year at least and keeps having the same sort of heavy defeats where she looks completely out of sorts and nothing like a #1. She failed her most important objective of the year - the Olympics - and just barely managed to win RG. It's entirely possible that her success in WTA 1000s is no great consolation for being so mid a Slams outside of RG, and although she is still #1, the odds are she'll lose that by the end of the year and probably for several months this time (she has loads to defend in the first half of 2025). Her game has lost variety and she is still unable to time her peaks for the very biggest tournaments (or actually unable to time her peaks at all). Surely she was aware that this was not suddenly going to improve with Wiktorowski after 3 years? Maybe she's willing to sacrifice some time as #1 for more long-term goals? Also - it is not because you did not see any signs that there weren't any. Others (obviously more focused on Swiatek than you have any bandwidth or business to be) did see it coming. Finally FYI her dismissal of Sierzputowski was very similar - no frills or bows on it.
Barley managed to win Rolland garros? One close match aside she destroyed everyone. And aside from loss to Rybakina in stutgart, she played amazingly on clay
The intensity is on Iga’s side, she is both intense and a cry baby and her psychologist doesn’t do anything about it. I feel sorry for her and also to her new coach who needs to deal with the psychologist. I think Andy needs to focus on his family, maybe Brad Gilbert for 1 year and then Andy?
I agree. Most of this speculation -- even how she addresses her coach in a public social media post -- is not useful at all. If anything, I think this is the best timing for a change of coach. She sacrifices a few tournaments (and perhaps the #1 ranking) and start 2025 strong, instead of changing after WTA finals in Nov and then scramble for training with the new guy before the new season begins.
LOl. Iga jest numerem jeden na swiecie i mysle ze zaszokowala caly swiat tenisa ostatnimi decyzjami. Ciezko zeby o tym nie mowic. A tu mamy wywazone wypowiedzi :)
??? She chose a very public line of work. Her work/occupation is playing tennis, playing it for the spectators and thus earning a lot of money .Ours, spectators , fans, journalists interest in all aspects of her career is more than understandable and this a spinning wheel of her marketing value . Something as huge as breaking an immensely successful sport and business cooperation at least successful on paper is a natural talking point.
She always called Tomasz Coach. In Polish too. It's a show of respect. We are more official in Poland, keeping/referring by the titles
Well, she always called him "coach Tomasz/coach Wiktorowski." Out of respect but at the end of the day he was the guy she hired to work for her and they achieved many of their goals together. I believe her loses at the Olympics and USO pushed her to make some drastic changes and contrary to what many people say, I think the timing was right. Obviously, staying at #1 is no longer the goal this season. If it was, she'd have travelled to China with Dawid Celt - Poland's Billie Jean King Cup captain and Aga's husband (that's what Rybakina did in NY). If she hires a new coach now they will have over 2 months before Australia to try new things and to get to know each other. There's this interview w Iga from 3 years ago, soon after she hired Tomasz where she said that she might be ready for an international coach in 1-2 years, so it seems that the time has come. Curious to see who it's gonna be.
The vibe could be partially because of Tomasz, who does not familiarize with players e.g. he stays at a different hotel, does not go to dinner together, overall, tries to keep some distance in the relationship. That's his style of coaching. As to the statement, it means more that she called him The Coach (capital C) than that she did not call him Tomek. Shows her respect.
I was not surprised. I saw it coming a mile away and was actually hoping that she would find a new coach so her love for the game can shine through again. That team including the psychologist was too militant and she didn't need that.
To the point that Iga said it so formal. I think it's because of how polish etiquette works. Normally, with such an age gap you should say "sir" every time you are referring to someone. To avoid this very formal "sir" in every sentence (this is how our language works), they went with saying per "coach", so it's a middle ground between formality and informality.
Oh ok, I had noticed that she was often referring to him as Coach Wiktorowski/Coach Tomasz but I didn't really think anything of it and didn't know this could be the reason why, good to know (and interesting to learn about as someone who's very interested in languages but doesn't know much about Polish - yet)!
Iga's statement is very RESPECTFUL and very warm. Tomasz Wiktorowski is not her buddy, he was a mentor, whom she respects and appreciates. What may seem "jarring" to you, is actually extremely polite. You are definitely misreading a cultural difference.
I hope whoever she chooses to work with can help her find her love of tennis again. I enjoyed the Iga of 2020. The person she has become is painful to watch and does not seem to enjoy tennis at all. She only seems to enjoy winning…..and I don’t even know if it’s really enjoying it as much as it is that she is relieved.
Iga hasn’t lost her love of tennis. She wants the big $ but only play the tournaments she wants to (clay, slow hard courts).
"The person she has become is painful to watch and does not seem to enjoy tennis at all." Nonsense. People will say the craziest things, really.
All of the speculations aside: I think it’s good she is taking a break, no matter what the reasons were. I was hoping she was going to make some changes within her team as there was no progress in her game. She can be a complete player again and so she should. Slice, drop shots, net game back into play, please ! No need to worry about anything! I think it’s very exciting she had a courage to make this move ❤ And Tomasz Wiktorowski needs a long holiday he deserves as she stated in her announcement. Its a win-win.
Iga wanted to play in Seoul, Beijing and Wuhan. However, when she went home after the US Open, it must have hit her that her Wimbledon hasn't improved an inch, the Olympics ended up in a disappointment, her loss in Cincinatti to Sabalenka in straight sets was probably very painful, or to Pegula at the US Open. For the three years, her serve has not improved much....Aga Radwanska, whom Wiktorowski trained in the past, used to have the same problem. Additionally, watch how Iga won her first Roland Garros in 2020. She used to be a great all-around player at the age of 19! She used to train with Piotr Sierzputowski back then. Where are all those slices, drop shots or the net game she used to have in her arsenal? Let's be honest, while others on the tour have been improving, Iga's game for the last three years has been more less the same. It is a great move they have separated. Finally! Go, Iga!
Tomaz really focused on what she did well and it worked. Very well but not has a ceiling.
Iga was also sick recently. I don’t know how big of an issue that is.
I have to laugh at the remark, that Iga's serve has not improved in three years. If your eyes fail you, perhaps you should take a look at her serve stats, and compare them to Aryna and Elena's serve stats.
One point on formality when change has been announced, I think it’s ok for a Polish person and it’s an improvement. Were you are aware that she fired her previous coach through an SMS?
Loving this cheeky little chat guys 🎾 Thank you 😊
Andy Murray?!! Oh yes please. His personality traits, his Scottishnes, his appreciation of women tennis and not the last aspect he likes her. The whole package . Re her timing- spur of the moment, completely unprepared, emotional .Not a good start to a new chapter but she is a great, talented player so maybe it will work out for her. My fingers crossed.
are you kiding me? what he has to offer her? just his surname
I agree with you both. I am surprised as well. Even more surprised she didnt wait till end of season. She just gave number one spot to Sabalenka. Can she get it back? It will be very difficult because Sabalenka will have many tournament to gain more and more points.
But we need to trust Iga. I cant wait for the news who will be new coach for her! And I miss her on court. Can she win WTA Finals after such a long break?
The personal matters that Iga wrote about when withdrawing from the tournament in Beijing turned out to be neither rest nor mental fatigue after the Olympics and the US Open (although that probably happened), but a change that will hopefully bring good results.
Iga's text suggests that the coach needed a rest after three intense years, that they made the decisions together. As if coach Wiktorowski had had enough of everything that was going on around Iga and the staff, constant gossip, comments, hate for everyone and the guy decided to spend time with his family. And if there were any misunderstandings at the end, we will never know what they were. The farewell to the coach is a bit similar to the previous farewell, because it started similarly to Sierzputowski's farewell, which took place in the match with Sakkari in the Finals in 2021, when Iga burst into tears, then there was a joint press conference and a few days later she said goodbye to the coach. And now a similar situation - during training at the US Open, Iga leaves the court and cries, does not react to the coach's commands, and during the meeting with Pegula, does not react to the coach's words either.
The turning point in their cooperation was the semi-final of the IO. Iga and the coach that they were not happy, the coach's texts may not have been similar to Iga's, who said that the semi-final IO broke her heart, that she was in mourning, that it was the most painful defeat in her entire career, she did not finish the interview, but the coach's first opinions were more bitter than sweet.
What happened in the semi-final IO began to affect the relationship between the coach and the tennis player, that they stopped getting along, which was visible in the USA. However, I thought that there would be no dismissal because it was not the first such situation since the beginning of their cooperation. The lost match with Ostapenko at last year's US Open looked similar to the match with Pegula at the US Open this year - Iga sent pleading glances to her team, and the team sat there without any reaction. And many wondered if she might say goodbye to someone, but they rise in China and in the Finals.
And one of the reasons I didn't believe that she would get fired/leave coach is that this is Iga's second best season, even if she doesn't play in the Finals, when you look at the results. I also couldn't imagine Iga choosing a coach from abroad. And yet she decided to take such a bold step. I hope that if it's a coach from abroad, he won't care about the Polish hell, they won't explain to him what Poles write in the comments, on forums, he won't care about the opinions of [olish coaches and commentators.
Catherine drinking that Juice like her life depends on it 🤣
I love this videos, keep it coming please 👍🏻
Very interested to see who she'll team up with.
It's funny people want to blame the mental coach/psychologist. As if that person is Yoko Ono breaking up the Beatles.
2. Behind closed doors, things were supposed to be really hot, and even Abramowicz's urgent intervention didn't help. At the beginning of October, a sensational piece of news broke: Iga Świątek is ending her cooperation with her previous coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski. The tennis player announced this on her Instagram profile, where in a long post she thanked her former coach and at the same time announced that she was starting a search for a new coach. This time from outside Poland. Immediately after this sensational news appeared, an avalanche of questions started: what happened in Świątek's staff?
After the Olympics and the American summer hard court season I thought it was clear she needed a change. Sure her clay dominice continued this year but…
When she gets in trouble on hard or grass she just kinda panic and her game fall apart. On clay she can get out of trouble eventually (see the Osaka match at RG) but on other surfaces she cleary struggles.
Between this and the Rybakina/Vukov stuff - lot of coaching drama going on.
Thanks
1.Polish Media: here's the inside story of Iga Świątek's breakup with her coach. She said: "Enough!"
Iga Świątek wasn't supposed to thank Tomasz Wiktorowski, but he was supposed to thank her. The key to all of this was supposedly the dominant role of Daria Abramowicz. "The coach himself decided to stop this choleric dance with Iga's psychologist and finally said: "Enough!"" - the i.pl service describes the inside story of what was supposedly happening in the Polish woman's team. And that's not all.
Iga Światek has a new coach, Wim Fissette. I wonder how his cooperation with Daria Abramowicz will go?
Opening image - Catherine downing a smoothie - lol.
But Gauff didn't wait with neither of her changes.
you do not go by first name with people older than you in Poland.
@@joannagrzywna545 I am not Polish apparently but yeah, when they talk about how Iga refers to her coach, I am like hey In some cultures we call our teacher, or an older person we respect, Mr / Miss / Prof Something, at least in public, even if we have been actual friends over the years… they shouldn’t make this kind of speciation or even judgement based on a detail like this.
I have the feeling Iga was a little bit stagnationed. In particular she could find solutions when matchs got thigh, and her serve wasn't dominant. May be Iga thinks she needs somethnig extra to be more consistent on grass and hard courts eventhouthg she won super big ttitles on hard.
Iga Swiatek's biggest problem is her psychologist who is ruining her psyche.
Agreed. I have always thought that.
What proof do u have of this ? Just curious.
Bollox
Yes, as David said, the real question is what Iga is looking for in making the change.
My hope is that she wants to fix the technical flaws in her game: the wonky serve, the late preparation and too big backswing on her forehand, as well as, what you all have well noted, the one-dimensional strategy and tactics to her game. I hope it’s not just a “new voice” to change her motivation.
I hope the same for Naomi and Coco. I especially hope that her win in China does not fool Coco into thinking that her problems have been solved. Her path to the title was the same as it has always been: a super favorable draw (the highest seed she faced was #15 Paula Badosa), other players taking out the high seeds, and an opponent in the finals who self-destructed. That’s not a recipe that can be counted on. I believe that she has the most talent and highest upside of anyone on tour, but she will never achieve that with her current technique.
I hope they take all inspiration from Aryna, who did take the time to work on her serve and forehand, and who is now at the point where only the highest level of play from an accomplished opponent can beat her. Her match with Karolina Muchova represents, for me, the pinnacle of the sport, from two players whose technical mastery is at such a high level.
I really wonder what business we have being surprised - Iga has very clearly stagnated in the last year at least and keeps having the same sort of heavy defeats where she looks completely out of sorts and nothing like a #1. She failed her most important objective of the year - the Olympics - and just barely managed to win RG. It's entirely possible that her success in WTA 1000s is no great consolation for being so mid a Slams outside of RG, and although she is still #1, the odds are she'll lose that by the end of the year and probably for several months this time (she has loads to defend in the first half of 2025). Her game has lost variety and she is still unable to time her peaks for the very biggest tournaments (or actually unable to time her peaks at all). Surely she was aware that this was not suddenly going to improve with Wiktorowski after 3 years? Maybe she's willing to sacrifice some time as #1 for more long-term goals?
Also - it is not because you did not see any signs that there weren't any. Others (obviously more focused on Swiatek than you have any bandwidth or business to be) did see it coming.
Finally FYI her dismissal of Sierzputowski was very similar - no frills or bows on it.
Barley managed to win Rolland garros? One close match aside she destroyed everyone. And aside from loss to Rybakina in stutgart, she played amazingly on clay
3:01 That picture tells a thousand words.
The intensity is on Iga’s side, she is both intense and a cry baby and her psychologist doesn’t do anything about it. I feel sorry for her and also to her new coach who needs to deal with the psychologist. I think Andy needs to focus on his family, maybe Brad Gilbert for 1 year and then Andy?
Wish Billie Jean would stop yapping, after all these years... People pamper her too much
Stop speculating, leave her alone , let her work it out , the worse thing now is talking about issues most people have no idea
I agree. Most of this speculation -- even how she addresses her coach in a public social media post -- is not useful at all. If anything, I think this is the best timing for a change of coach. She sacrifices a few tournaments (and perhaps the #1 ranking) and start 2025 strong, instead of changing after WTA finals in Nov and then scramble for training with the new guy before the new season begins.
LOl. Iga jest numerem jeden na swiecie i mysle ze zaszokowala caly swiat tenisa ostatnimi decyzjami. Ciezko zeby o tym nie mowic. A tu mamy wywazone wypowiedzi :)
??? She chose a very public line of work. Her work/occupation is playing tennis, playing it for the spectators and thus earning a lot of money .Ours, spectators , fans, journalists interest in all aspects of her career is more than understandable and this a spinning wheel of her marketing value . Something as huge as breaking an immensely successful sport and business cooperation at least successful on paper is a natural talking point.
She is not a child…she doesn’t need your protection. 😂
Dismiss Daria! Problems will be solved. You're welcome.
Iga's new coach: Brad Gilbert, perhaps? That would be intriguing...
more and more gossips that iga is actually a man acting as a woman
The toxic “psychologist” Daria has been briefing against the coach for the polish media