'She is innocent': Iga Swiatek's coach Wim Fissette backs star after failed doping test

World number two accepts one-month ban after ITIA rules she did not knowingly take banned substance

World No 2 and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek has accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance. AP

Belgian tennis coach Wim Fissette has revealed he was informed by Iga Swiatek about her failed anti-doping test before he joined her team and was “confident that she is innocent”.

After parting ways with Naomi Osaka in September, Fissette was hired by Swiatek to be her coach a month later.

Although it wasn’t publicly known at the time, Fissette became part of Team Swiatek at a particularly turbulent time for the five-time grand slam champion.

News broke on Thursday that Swiatek, who ended her three-year partnership with Polish coach Tomasz Wiktorowski in early October, served a three-week provisional suspension from September 12 to October 4 after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample collected in August.

Following thorough investigation and analysis, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted that the positive test was caused by contamination of a regulated non-prescription medication – melatonin – which Swiatek had been taking as a sleep aid.

The world No 2 has accepted a one-month suspension – of which only eight days remained – after her level of fault was deemed to be at the lowest end of the range for ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ by the ITIA.

“Trust is a foundation of good relationships in our team from the very beginning,” Fissette told The National on Friday.

“Iga told me about the case and left me the decision about our cooperation. I have been observing her for a long time, her values, her work ethic, her standards. I was confident that she is innocent from the start, so it did not influence my decision about joining the team.”

Swiatek missed three tournaments – in Seoul, Beijing and Wuhan – while she was serving her provisional suspension, which was later lifted due to her successful appeal.

As a result, the Pole was unable to defend her No 1 spot and was eventually leapfrogged by Aryna Sabalenka, who ended her sensational 2024 campaign at the summit of the rankings.

“It was an extremely stressful and difficult situation for Iga and for the whole team,” added Fissette.

“Nevertheless, Iga is a fighter on and off court, this was another tough battle she won. Now we will focus together on the next season supporting each other and working as a team.”

A ‘dream’ to work with Iga

After having a 10-day training block in Warsaw, Swiatek and Fissette’s first tournament together was the WTA Finals, which took place in Riyadh from November 2-9.

The second seed notched two wins and one defeat in the group stage but was unable to qualify for the semi-finals. Swiatek then flew to join her Polish teammates at the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga, where they lost to Italy in the last four.

In an interview with The National in Riyadh, Fissette spoke about what appealed to him the most in working with Swiatek.

“As a coach, it’s a dream to work with someone like Iga,” he said. “Everyone has watched matches of her, but also probably practices, and just the intensity and the focus she brings, she's determined, she's on a mission every moment that she's on the court.

“It's something that I always admired in her. The focus that she brings also in the matches, she starts the match and it's like 100 per cent energy, 100 per cent focus, and she keeps that literally every single point of the match. That's what I always admired in her. She is already super successful, but I also think we can develop her, there's more margin to grow, and I hope we will be able to do that.”

Smooth communication

This is the first time Swiatek has hired a non-Polish coach, which means she is learning to articulate her thoughts about her game in English while speaking to Fissette.

The 23-year-old said that when she was changing coaches at the end of 2021, she felt she wasn’t ready to work with a non-Polish mentor. But now that she is feeling more confident in her English, she believes communication will not be an issue with Fissette.

“I don't think it's a concern, especially with Wim's kind of patience, because he's always ready to explain if I don't understand,” she told reporters in Riyadh. “And he doesn't have a problem with talking a bit longer because of that.”

Fissette says he felt “very welcomed” by Swiatek’s entire team from the start, and that the Pole had asked everyone to stick to English when communicating in his presence.

During the little time Fissette spent with Swiatek in Warsaw before her last two events of the season, they discussed the areas in her game they wanted to work on. Fissette made it a two-way conversation, and asked her what she felt she needed to develop the most. He then brought in his own input – aided by data and video analysis – and they appear to be aligned on the way moving forward.

“In general, say outside of the clay, I think she feels sometimes that she really has to change her game too much. So when she plays against big hitters, she feels maybe she has to hit bigger than them; where I feel like she has to stay a little bit more true to her game and use her weapons, like the heavy spin. There's no need to go flat,” he explained.

“Everyone is uncomfortable having a high contact point and I think to find a way to do that, I think that's an important one. And for me, I think the forehand is a weapon, but I want to make it already a bigger weapon, and maybe be a little bit stronger also in defence and improve a little bit the serve, like more speed, more precision. That's the goal.”

Fissette was happy with the chemistry within the team during their first tournament together and says they’re all excited heading into 2025.

He was particularly impressed with the meticulous attention the team gave to Swiatek’s recovery between matches and training sessions, and believes it will be key for her longevity.

“One thing that I found really interesting, and it's really good actually, is the way that her team is actually monitoring her, just in terms of recovery,” he said.

“Because they practice, obviously, hard, but they also put a lot of attention to recovery. And so they measure her probably every morning, and the day of the match and stuff. After the Coco (Gauff) match (in Riyadh), the recovery wasn't well so we, all together – more the trainer – decided to have a day off to have her fully recovered.

“It's a very important thing, especially if you want to think long-term. And maybe that's also one of the secrets why she was number one for such a long time, that they choose the right moments to train, to go hard, to push hard, and also sometimes to take a little bit a step back.”

Prioritising mental and physical health

Such decisions must also extend to her tournament schedule and Fissette believes that moving forward, Swiatek might make tweaks to her calendar in order to make sure she is ready to compete at each event she turns up for.

“I think the coming years, I’d say there will be a little bit of changes in her schedule,” he said.

“I would say also, just because if you want to play for the long-term, if you want to play for another 10 years, you have to pick some moments where you take some time off.”

Swiatek has been openly critical of the WTA Tour’s schedule, saying there are too many mandatory tournaments. Players can opt out of playing a mandatory tournament but could end up receiving penalties for not fulfilling the mandatory requirements, which could ultimately affect their ranking.

“Yes, the schedule is very busy, but at the end, it's still your own choice (to play a tournament). And if you want to get zero points (for a mandatory tournament), I think the most important is that you prepare for the grand slams,” Fissette added.

“That's where you get the most points, if you want to really compete for number one. But it doesn't make sense to play a tournament if you don't feel ready. So I think just in the coming year, she will have to make some decisions and maybe focus a little bit more on the grand slams, and think about her physical and mental health.”

The Wimbledon challenge

Despite being a junior champion at Wimbledon, Swiatek does not consider herself a confident competitor on grass and has never made it past the quarter-finals in five women’s singles appearances at the All England Club.

“I think it’s (Wimbledon) probably going to be the hardest grand slam to win for her,” Fissette said.

“But I see the potential. I mean, look at some past champions, Simona Halep, [Marketa] Vondrousova… either you have really big hitters, or you have some incredibly good movers on the grass. And I think Iga is an incredibly good mover and she can also hit the ball really hard. She has a great return.

“So I see things in her game that can be very positive for the grass court season. But when you win Rome, Madrid and Paris (all on clay), you need to take time off. And then maybe, like this year, there is no time to play a preparation tournament. And without a preparation tournament, you're never going to have the full confidence going into a slam. So I think that is the hardest part.”

Swiatek, Fissette and the rest of the team will be preparing for the 2025 season in Warsaw as opposed to spending a portion of her pre-season training in the UAE, as she did last year.

“One of the reasons is that her fitness coach (Maciej Ryszczuk), he just had a baby, a second baby. So it's a bit busy at home, and she's thinking also about the team, which is nice and probably would be better for everyone to stay longer in Warsaw,” Fissette explained.

Swiatek is scheduled to come to Abu Dhabi to participate in the World Tennis League event, which will take place from December 19 to 22 at Etihad Arena.

Fissette will then catch up with her for her first tournament of 2025 at the United Cup in Sydney, Australia.