Iga Swiatek reveals split from long-time coach in heart-felt Instagram post
2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek has announced she will be parting ways with coach of five years Piotr Sierzputowski, saying “this is really challenging” but feels she has “everything she needs.”
As the 2022 season approaches, Swiatek felt she needed changes in her “professional life” so she could “develop more, evolve and meet other people [coaches].”
Swiatek hired Sierzputowski when she was just 15 years old. Sierzputowski then took Swiatek from the junior circuit to the professional tour, oversaw her 2017 junior Wimbledon title win and coached her to French Open glory in 2020.
As a result, Sierzputowski received with the WTA’s Coach of the Year award that year, the same year Swiatek was the most improved player on the WTA tour.
After another successful season in 2021 20-year-old Swiatek finished ninth in the world, earning her a place at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara. She also reached a career high ranking of World number four in September.
Swiatek announced the split through a heart-felt Instagram post, which read “I’ve started my pre-season, but today I would like to tell you something significant… After more than five years I’ve decided to finish my cooperation with my coach Piotr Sierzputowski.
“This change is really challenging for me and this decision wasn’t easy, either… As tennis players we meet on our path a lot of people who contribute great value into our work and, often, into our life too, because we spend almost the whole year on tour together.
“I found out that sometimes in our professional life we need changes to develop more, evolve and meet other people with whom we’re going to create a cooperation for the next stages of our development.”
Swiatek went on to sing the praises of her now former coach and said she valued the time they spent together on the tour massively.
“I would like to thank you Coach for everything that you did for me. We gave each other so much and I hope that we’ll continue to grow and develop with this experience we’ve gained together.
“I owe you a lot and truly appreciate the time we’ve spent together. All those years enabled us to be in the place that we are now.
“I suppose you may have questions about what’s next. I have everything I need to be able to work and I would like to focus on my pre-season without any outside pressure. I hope you’ll understand it,” Swiatek concluded.
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