Iga Swiatek made a winning return to tennis after a break following her quarterfinal loss to Jessica Pegula at the US Open in September. During her time away, the 23-year-old restructured her team, adding coach Wim Fissette, with whom she hopes to finish the season strong by defending her WTA Finals title. Swiatek beat Pegula in the final of the season-ending championships last year to secure her second-biggest non-clay title alongside the 2022 US Open.
The Pole, now world #2, aims to reclaim the top ranking from Aryna Sabalenka, who dethroned her. Both Swiatek and Sabalenka arrived in Riyadh for the WTA Finals, where they recently had a practice session together. For Swiatek to secure the year-end #1 ranking, she must win the WTA Finals. Sabalenka, on the other hand, can claim the spot by winning at least three round-robin matches or advancing to the finals with two wins.
Swiatek’s Vision for Improvement Under Fissette
When asked about areas of improvement, Swiatek identified her serve as a key focus in her pre-tournament press conference. “I for sure want to improve my serve, as I’ve been doing for past years,” she said. “I feel like I still need to continue that. For sure, I’m not a complete player.”
She also sees potential for tactical growth with Fissette’s guidance. “I think tactically, there are many ways I could go and have more variety on the court. Wim has some nice ideas,” she noted. “For now we’ve just been preparing for this tournament and getting to know each other. The real changes, we’re going to talk about them during the off-season.”
The problems of her first serve have been fundamental to her lapses during the grass court season, where she has not had major breakthroughs. This season, she could only reach the third round of Wimbledon. In the US Open quarterfinal loss to Pegula, the weakness in Swiatek’s serve was apparent. She made 68% of first serves but could only win 56% of her first serve points. Critically, she also won just 53% of her second serve points and gave away her serve four times in possible eight break point opportunities.
2024 Season in Review
Swiatek’s 2024 season includes several high-profile wins. She became the first Polish player to win an Olympic medal, taking bronze in singles at the Paris Summer Olympics. On clay, she secured her fourth French Open title, joining an elite group with three consecutive wins at Roland Garros. She also completed the Madrid-Rome-French Open sweep, a feat previously achieved only by Serena Williams in 2013. This includes multiple wins over Sabalenka in the Madrid Open and the Rome finals.
With a 60-8 win-loss record this year, the former world #1 has captured titles at the French Open, Italian Open, Madrid Open, Indian Wells Masters, and Qatar Open. She held the world #1 ranking for over 100 weeks and remains a contender in women’s tennis.
Main photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
