Iga Swiatek had little curiosity in tennis as a teen, however the one exception was Rafael Nadal. She spent her youth idolising the Spaniard, who gained 22 majors and, from afar, quickly grew to become one among his most avid college students.
His affect is evident within the heavy topspin the Pole generates with her forehand, nonetheless a singular weapon on the ladies’s tour, proof of the depth she calls for of herself on each level and her four French Open titles earned by the time she was barely 23.
After a youth spent following Nadal’s profession, Swiatek’s success allowed her to construct a pleasant rapport with him away from the court docket. Their friendship then got here full circle this month as she discovered herself being coached by Nadal at his academy in Mallorca alongside her new full-time coach Francisco Roig, Nadal’s former coach of 18 years.
Roig, who has constructed a status for his technical experience, labored with Emma Raducanu for six months till February. He then unceremoniously ended a short partnership with the younger Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard when Swiatek, one of the vital completed champions of this period, got here calling.
Not even Swiatek’s important achievements, which embody 125 weeks at No 1 and 6 grand slam titles, ready her for the feeling of being on court docket with her idol: “The first 15 minutes of practice, I was so tight,” says Swiatek, laughing. “I was like: ‘Oh my God, how should I play? He’s watching, he’s right there.’ But, honestly, it was my first days on site so I also gave myself space. He knows how it is, he had every possible experience probably on the court. So no one expected me to play perfectly.”
The novelty of being coached by Nadal quickly waned as Swiatek, who will probably be 25 on the finish of May, skilled her focus on the numerous challenges forward. This has been a bruising interval and the aftermath of her dire second-round loss to Magda Linette on the Miami Open positioned her at a crossroads. She begins her Madrid Open marketing campaign on Thursday towards Ukraine’s Daria Snigur.
Swiatek had been so nice between 2022 and the primary half of 2024, rolling by huge titles and quickly establishing herself as essentially the most profitable participant of her technology, however the excessive commonplace she set challenged the remainder of the tour to catch up. The high quality of the highest 10 has improved dramatically over the previous few years, led by Aryna Sabalenka’s transformation. Even after a surprise Wimbledon title final yr, Swiatek is ranked No 4. For a participant of her calibre, it is not ok. It got here as no shock when she opted to half methods with her coach, Wim Fissette, final month.
After a number of weeks of coaching and ample discussions with Roig, it has been attention-grabbing to hear Swiatek converse with uncommon readability about the trail ahead. She possesses among the most devastating weapons within the sport with her damaging forehand, exact backhand and the relentless strain she imposes on opponents with her return. However, most of her triumphs have additionally been based mostly on the positive steadiness between her offensive and defensive expertise. She is additionally among the best athletes within the sport, that means she is able to locking down her sport and forcing opponents to miss at any given time. More not too long ago, in most tight matches towards different prime gamers, Swiatek would panic and overpress too typically, hitting herself off the court docket. She now believes she should rediscover the feeling of feeling like a “wall” from the baseline, re-establishing the shot tolerance that after supplied her with so many choices.
She believes her consistency has waned in recent times as a result of she targeted on brief shot patterns reasonably than extra prolonged rallies, one thing she and Roig try to rectify. “You need to have this feeling in your head that you’re not going to miss a ball,” she says.
Swiatek’s serve, in the meantime, has been a dialogue level for years. She has considerably improved her tempo nevertheless it has all the time been her weakest level. Although she has made a number of modifications to her service movement, she all the time resisted adjusting her elbow placement. Last week in Stuttgart, she emerged for her first event of the Roig period having lastly accomplished so.
When movies of Nadal teaching Swiatek unfold throughout the web, there was important consideration on the Spaniard seemingly educating Swiatek how to strike his trademark lasso forehand. Swiatek, nevertheless, notes that Nadal was truly extra targeted on how she strikes across the ball.
The Pole has lengthy possessed among the greatest footwork within the sport on both tour, however Nadal and Roig concluded that Swiatek might generally truly be too intense, take too many steps, shifting too harshly and putting too many balls off steadiness.
In some methods, Swiatek’s perspective on her footwork displays her total strategy to the game not too long ago. Her depth, self-discipline and energy are the driving pressure behind her success, however generally it is truly potential to attempt too exhausting: “Totally. 100%,” she says.
“Last year, I was trying really hard and nothing really clicked. So, for sure, I was trying too hard, yeah. I felt like I wanted to be more ready and lower but that made me quite heavy on the ground. You need to find a balance. Tennis is about smoothness and being fluid, adapting to different kinds of situations.”
In latest months, Swiatek has typically targeted on her psychological strategy when dissecting troublesome outcomes, notably her tendency to overthink on and off court docket. Now she appears to have a transparent imaginative and prescient for how she desires to play and a dedication to tackle her technical points with a coach well-suited to the duty.
At a time when the highest of the ladies’s tour is so aggressive, the highway forward is robust. However, it was Swiatek’s capacity and dominant outcomes that performed a big half in elevating requirements. Now she should overcome the monster she created.
