Iga Swiatek announces major coaching change: ‘I am ready for the next step’

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has announced her split from her long-time coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.

The five-time Grand Slam champion said she is looking for a non-Polish coach because she is “ready to take the next step in my career”.

Swiatek and Wiktorowski have worked together over the past three seasons as the 23-year-old established himself as the best player in the world, topping the rankings for the past 123 weeks.

With Wiktorowski, Swiatek has won the last three French Opens in a row and won her first non-clay grand slam at the 2022 US Open.

But she has not reached the semi-finals of any grand slam other than the French Open since then and there is room for improvement in her game.

After a busy summer, Swiatek did not play at the Korea Open due to fatigue and withdrew from the China Open in Beijing for personal reasons, saying she is giving herself time to appoint a new coach.

Wiktorowski was part of Swiatek’s close-knit team, which includes fitness coach and physio Maciej Ryszczuk and psychologist Daria Abramowicz.

“After three years of the greatest achievements under my tutelage, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, we have decided to part ways,” Swiatek said in a post on Instagram.

“I want to start with a big thank you and appreciation for our work together. Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for three seasons, when I desperately needed changes and a fresh look at my game.

“His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and vast knowledge of tennis helped us achieve things I had never dreamed of, just a few months after we started working together. Our main goal was to become the number 1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said that first.

“We aimed very high, we went to every tournament with a clear goal to win it. Together with coach Wiktorowski we won many tournaments and four grand slams.

“Coach, thank you, I wish you all the best. I know that after these three years of hard work and lots of travel, you would like to rest and spend some well-deserved time with your loved ones, and I hope you get what you need.

“Because of this important change in my team, I am giving myself a few weeks to start a partnership with a new coach. I am in the middle of the first conversations with coaches from abroad (non-Polish), because I am ready to take the next step in my career. I’ll let you know when I make a decision.”

While she won major hard court titles in Qatar and Indian Wells this season, Swiatek was knocked out in the third round of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Aryna Sabalenka has won three of the last four hard-court Grand Slam titles, including the Australian Open and US Open this season, and has closed the gap to Swiatek in the rankings.