Iga Swiatek and Wim Fissette didn’t have a “natural player-coaching relationship”, according to Kim Clijsters with the former world No 1 saying “a couple of red flags” emerged several months ago.
The pair started working together in October 2024 and after a difficult first six months in 2025, they appeared to have turned the corner after Swiatek won Wimbledon, the Cincinnati Open and Korea Open.
Following a sluggish start to the 2026 season during which the Pole failed to reach the semi-final of the four WTA Tour events she has played in, Swiatek announced her decision to part ways with Fissette after her shock second-round exit from the Miami Open.
The social media statements from both didn’t give too much away with the six-time Grand Slam winner stating that after “an intense time full of challenges and many important experiences”, she decided to take a different path.
Fissette simply stated “we both wanted and worked for more but shared important moments and lessons”.
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Four-time Grand Slam winner Clijsters, who worked with Fissette from 2009 until 2011, gave her views on their relationship and subsequent split on the Love All podcast.
“My first kind of feeling is a little bit… I saw some of the interactions that were happening on court as well, and I think, to Wim’s defence, when a player is mentally where she was at, I don’t think there’s a lot that you can say from the sideline,” the Belgian said.
“It’s a lot further than ‘hey do this on the tennis court, or hey try to focus on placing the ball there, or throwing the ball toss or stepping in on the return.’ It’s a lot further than that. It’s a lot deeper.
“A few years ago, [Aryna] Sabalenka was very open about sharing that, you know, people recommended her to go talk to a psychologist and that after a while she realised, like, ‘What am I doing? Like, I’m the only person who can change this. This person doesn’t know what it’s like to be out there. Like, I just have to change myself.’
“And I think you come to a point that you can only… you have to look yourself in the mirror and make the changes and face your weaknesses and that tension.
“A lot of times, Wim’s very data-driven, which naturally he was like that. I was a very intuitive player, like I didn’t want to hear any stats.
“I didn’t care about the numbers, like in my brain it does not work, but you know, for me, like that was something that would be very overwhelming. I don’t know what Iga is like. But yeah, sometimes you want to have an open mind.
“But you could see that there was tension already for a few months and frustration and that their natural kind of player-coaching relationship wasn’t really where it should be at, and I think those were a couple of red flags.”
Swiatek’s psychologist Daria Abramowicz has a very close relationship with the world No 3 and many have raised questions about her role on the team with Clijsters also alluding that it could be a negative for a coach.
She added: “I also think on Wim’s side it’s also not easy to work in a team I think where you have a mindset coach who is very close. Who’s always there. And because that’s also, in a sense, I feel like the coach also has a little bit, needs to also know… it’s also part of it.
“I feel like a good coach can also understand the mental side of it, how to approach that, like I think it’s it’s not just the tennis part or the puzzle piece that you can just take out and replace by somebody else.
“Like, I think it’s a very intimate kind of detailed relationship and where you have to be able to express yourself openly and it’s not always easy.
“But personalities have to match and it’s a lot of things. But Wim is somebody who was always on time. He’s very organised. Like I said, he was very data-driven.
“I would say he’s maybe not the best technical coach. Like he is not like that. If you’re looking for somebody to change your forehand or to do major things that was probably not his strength, but I’m also talking about like more than 10 years ago.
“He’s helped a lot of other players over time and so, that was my experience with him.”