Iga Swiatek picks Rafael Nadal’s brain after – Sports News
Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek determined to change coaches after a rocky begin to 2026. With the clay-court season on the horizon, she leveraged her connections to decide on between going straight to the source of clay-court greatness, Rafael Nadal.
Swiatek was noticed coaching at Nadal’s Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain, shortly after ending her partnership with Wim Fissette. The change got here on the heels of a irritating early stretch that included a second-round exit on the Miami Open.
The Polish star employed Francisco Roig, who’s Nadal’s former assistant. The duo stayed related by all of Nadal’s 22 Grand Slam titles over 18 years. Meanwhile, stars like Emma Raducanu are being urged to search out a constant full-time coach.
The six-time Grand Slam champion dropped to No. 4 within the rankings after being surpassed by Coco Gauff, prompting a reset for the clay-court season. Roig’s resume consists of working with Nadal during his most dominant years, in addition to more latest stints with Matteo Berrettini and Raducanu.
The U.Ok. tennis star recalled her time with Roig and expressed a need to return to her instincts with out “people telling me what to do, how to play, and it hasn’t necessarily fit.” That opened up the lane for Swiatek’s new connection.
“I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position,” Swiatek stated when discussing her time with Nadal. She saved the specifics of their conversations non-public however has long referred to Nadal as her “GOAT” since childhood, and that he is persistently given her ideas all through her profession.
Her choice to coach underneath his tree of data comes at a time when some of tennis’s greatest critics have sought to dissect and pinpoint the sport’s technical points to clarify her shortcomings. Rennae Stubbs believes Switek’s points stem from overusing ball direction modifications.
“I haven’t felt like this in, I don’t know, probably over five years, dropping this much in matches,” she stated after the loss. “I’ll just have to try to get my confidence back.”
“I feel like I carry a lot of expectations when I’m on the court, and I need to get rid of them because my game has not been good enough to have any expectations,” she continued. “I’m a bit confused, however I’ll simply work onerous to get it back. I do know I’ve it in me, I simply misplaced it for a second.”
Swiatek will start her new teaching partnership on the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, beginning on April 11. The Polish star was eradicated in final 12 months’s competitors, additionally within the quarterfinals, dropping to the eventual champion, Jelena Ostapenko.
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