World No. 1 Iga Swiatek announces split from coach Tomasz Wiktorowski after working together for three years

Hyderabad: World No. 1 tennis player Iga Swiatek and her coach of three years Tomasz Wiktorowski have announced a split. The coach-player combo have been working together for three years and have won many tournaments, including four Grand Slam titles.

Wiktorowski was instrumental in Swiatek’s rise to the pinnacle in rankings.

Swiatek took to social media to announce the split and started by thanking Wiktorowski and appreciated the work they have done together. “After three years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, we decided to part ways. I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together,” Swiatek started in a long statement.

She said that she reaped immense benefits from Wiktorowski’s technical and analytical acumen. “Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for 3 seasons, when I strongly needed changes and a fresh approach to my game. 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,” she added.

The Pole said the partnership’s main goal was to become the number one player in the world and it was the coach who said it first. “Our main goal was to become no 1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first. We aimed very high, we headed to every tournament with a clear goal to win it. Together with coach Wiktorowski we won many tournaments and 4 Grand Slams. It happened thanks to my entire sports team, with my fitness coach and physio Maciej Ryszczuk and my psychologist Daria Abramowicz on board,” the statement read.

The Poland-based player and her coach had a fruitful partnership winning 37 consecutive matches in 2022, a record. Under Wiktorowski’s tutelage Swiatek won 19 of her 22 WTA career titles and most recently a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Wiktorowski won the WTA’s Coach of the Year by his peers in 2023.

The World N0. 1 said her 44-year-old coach now deserves the much-needed rest after a gruelling three-year partnership. “Coach, Thank you, I wish you all the best. I know that you would like to rest after these 3 years of hard work and travelling a lot and spend some well deserved time with your loved ones and I hope you'll get what you need,” she said.

The 23-year-old added that she is in talks with her new coach and confirmed that it would be a person who is not from her country, Poland, and added that she will announce her new coach as and when the deal is finalised. “Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start a 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 in my career. I will let you know when I make a decision,” Swiatek concluded.