WTA

Swiatek confirms split with coach Wiktorowski and Wuhan Open withdrawal

By Sports Desk October 04, 2024

Iga Swiatek has announced the end of her three-year partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, saying the split was a mutual agreement. 

Wiktorowski, who joined Swiatek's team in 2022, helped her become the first Polish player to reach world number one and she has since spent 123 weeks at the top of the rankings.

Swiatek also won 19 of her 22 career titles and an Olympic bronze medal in Paris earlier this year with Wiktorowski, along with four grand slam victories. 

"After three years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski we decided to part ways," Swiatek wrote on Instagram. 

"I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together."

Swiatek has not competed since losing to Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals of the US Open, choosing to withdraw from the China Open due to personal reasons. 

The 23-year-old has also pulled out of the recent Korea Open in Seoul, citing fatigue, and next week's Wuhan Open. 

Swiatek won the French Open and US Open during her opening season with Wiktorowski, before embarking on a 37-match winning run in 2022 - the longest streak by a woman this century. 

The Pole won a fifth grand slam, which was her fourth with Wiktorowski, at Roland Garros in June, making it three consecutive wins at the tournament in Paris. 

"Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for three seasons, when I strongly needed changes and a fresh approach to my game," Swiatek continued.

"His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and enormous knowledge about tennis helped us to achieve things I've never dreamed of only a few months after we started working together."

But Swiatek was disappointed with her hard-court performances this season, exiting the Australian Open in the third round and the US Open in the last eight. 

The Pole said she has held "first talks" with prospective new coaches and will take a "couple of weeks" to start work with her next appointment.

"Our main goal was to become number one player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first," Swiatek concluded. 

"Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start cooperation with a new coach.

"I'm in the middle of first talks with coaches from abroad (non-Polish) because I'm ready to take the next step of my career. I will let you know when I make a decision."

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    Iga Swiatek's hopes of finishing as the year-end world number one were dashed after she fell to defeat against Coco Gauff at the WTA Finals on Tuesday. 

    Gauff earned her first triumph over Swiatek since the 2023 Cincinnati Open, emerging a 6-3 6-4 victor to reach the final four of the competition in Riyadh. 

    It means Aryna Sabalenka is now guaranteed to top the WTA rankings at the end of a calendar year for the first time in her career. 

    World number three Gauff finished the encounter with 10 winners to 33 unforced errors, 11 of which were double faults. Swiatek outpaced Gauff with 15 winners, but struck 47 unforced errors.

    At the age of 20 years and 237 days old, Gauff is the youngest American to reach back-to-back semi-finals at the WTA Finals since Tracy Austin (1979 and 1980).

    She is also the first player under the age of 21 to win both her first two round-robin matches at the year-end competition since Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova in 2007.

    "It feels great and despite our head-to-head I was still confident and I knew if I could find my game, I knew I had the chance to close out the match," Gauff told Sky Sports Tennis.

    "I was just trying to be resilient and play it deep. The conditions are tough and the altitude is tough.

    "I was trying not to give her too many unforced errors. It's just a game of cat and mouse in these conditions."

     

    In Tuesday's other match, Barbora Krejcikova ended Jessica Pegula's hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the tournament with a straight-sets triumph. 

    The Wimbledon champion needed just 69 minutes to secure a 6-3 6-3 victory, serving 11 aces throughout the contest compared to Pegula's one. 

    World number 13 Krejcikova became the lowest-ranked player to win a match at the WTA Finals since Magdalena Maleeva (ranked 17th) defeated Daniela Hantuchova in 2002.

    The Czech will also have confidence of claiming the crown in Riyadh having won her previous events in Tallinn, Ostrava, Dubai and Wimbledon when beating an opponent in the WTA's top 10. 

    "I was fighting for every ball and I felt that I really have to play my best tennis," said Krejcikova, who picked up just her 20th match win of the season. 

    "I was trying to be really solid and trying to put as many balls to the other side as I could. 

    "I’m definitely proud. I had some very high parts of the season, especially winning Wimbledon. That’s something indescribable.

    "And being here in the Finals is a huge privilege. It’s nice to get the win and still be part of the event."

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    Djokovic pulled out of the Paris Masters last month, and the world number five will now not feature in the season-ending tournament.

    The 37-year-old, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the Shanghai Masters in his last competitive appearance, is sat on 99 ATP Tour-level titles, and his wait for a 100th victory will now roll into 2025.

    Djokovic confirmed on Tuesday that he would not be participating in the ATP Finals.

    "I was really looking forward to being there, but due to ongoing injury I won't be playing next week," Djokovic said on social media.

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    The Belarusian had to dig deep in the second set but prevailed in 91 minutes, beating the Italian 6-3 7-5 in Riyadh to secure top spot in the Purple Group after two games.

    While Sabalenka cruised through the first set, she was almost forced to a decider, but saved two set points in the 10th game of the second to level the score at 5-5 before going on to claim the victory.

    In doing so, she became the first player to reach back-to-back semi-finals at the tournament as world number one since Serena Williams in 2013-14.

    Having won three of her previous four tournaments and won 22 of her 23 matches in that time, Sabalenka is now just one win away from securing the year-end world number one spot for the first time, a feat she can achieve if she beats Elena Rybakina on Wednesday in the final round-robin match.

    And she can go into it with confidence after improving her record against top-five opponents in 2024, with this her fifth such triumph.

    "I'm proud of myself. Not only myself, my team," Sabalenka said. 

    "We were able to overcome a lot of things. To be able to show such great tennis and become World No. 1. It's teamwork. It's not only me. The behind-the-scenes work nobody sees.

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    In Monday's other match, Zheng Qinwen kept her hopes of reaching the final four alive with her win over Rybakina.

    The Olympic champion was forced to go the distance though, despite getting the first break in the first and second sets, but eventually came out on top 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-1 in just under two-and-a-half hours.

    Since the event's inauguration in 1972, Zheng is just the second Chinese player to win a match at the WTA Finals after Li Na.

    It was a milestone victory for the 22-year-old as well as she earned her 50th win of 2024, improving her record to 50-17, making her the first Chinese player in the Open Era to hit that mark in a calendar year, though she acknowledged she could have made things easier for herself.

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