'I'm not one to judge': Iga Swiatek's coach rejects claims of suffering foot injury during US Open mixed doubles

World number two Iga Swiatek’s coach Wim Fissette believes the Polish tennis star’s foot injury had nothing to do her participation in the US Open mixed doubles event. Swiatek recently featured in the fourth and the final Grand Slam of the year where she was knocked out after losing in the quarterfinal to America’s Amanda Anisimova in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-3.

It was later reported that Swiatek was not fit during the contest and was carrying a foot injury. There were suggestions that Swiatek picked up that injury while playing in the mixed doubles event at the US Open, which was played just a few days before the start of the main round. In that competition, Swiatek partnered with Norway’s Casper Ruud, and the pair ended up playing in the final, where they lost to the pair of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.

Swiatek’s coach, Fissette, has recently had a detailed interview with Sport.pl, where he was asked about the root cause of the six-time Grand Slam winner and whether the US Open mixed doubles was responsible for that. In response to that, Fissette rejected the claim that the US Open was responsible for that and instead suggested Swiatek’s injury happened because of playing in excessive heat at the Cincinnati Open.

“I'm not one to judge whether the mixed doubles made things worse,” said Fiessette. “I talked to Maciej [Ryszczuk - ed.] about it. I asked him if it was something we shouldn't have done, looking back. He didn't think it made much difference. The root of the problem turned out to be the tournament in Cincinnati, where it was really hot, which in Iga's case, with her sliding and intense movement, is even more important. I think it was just bad luck. There are always problems, and every time you look back, you think. Okay, maybe this could have been changed a bit But I think things just happen. We have to accept it. Of course, we're trying to learn from it and see how we can do things better. Maybe we should tap more often when it's really hot, when there's a higher risk of blisters, maybe we should change our socks or shoes more often. We've talked about how to avoid this in the future and hopefully it won't happen again.”

Big challenges moving forward

Fissette was then asked about what is his point of view about the reaching the quarterfinal of the US Open. In response to that, Fissette stated that for him, it was a great achievement because at one stage he was not sure that Swiatek will be able to take the court and play against some of the best players in the world.

“For me, definitely [a great result playing in the quarterfinal of the US Open],” said Fissette. “There was a moment when I thought, 'Maybe she won't be able to play.' And that's also a difficult situation for a player. Iga isn't one of those players who has a lot of injuries; she's usually in great shape and feels good. It's a situation where you never know how a player will cope mentally. Playing with a numb foot means you approach matches with much more thought than a normal match, which was a big challenge. I'm proud of Iga for how she handled it, and I think we can be happy with this quarterfinal."

Service remains a problem for Swiatek, especially in the match where she ended up losing against some of the top players in the world. Fissette was asked about whether there is acknowledgement in the Swiatek’s team about the issue and he responded by stating that people in the think tank acknowledge the importance of improving the serve in the future.

"I agree with these observations [of serving poorly in big matches,” said Fissette. “I think Wimbledon was very good in this regard. And then the tournament in Cincinnati, when Iga served really well in most matches. At the US Open, the main problem was that we couldn't practice. During matches, when there's more pressure, we focus on the result, of course. Sometimes it happens that, especially serving technique, deteriorates a bit, and we have to deal with it. That's what the days between matches are for, when you can improve your technique, and we clearly missed out on those training days. I think if we could use those days and practice, Iga would have served better against Amanda."