INDIAN WELLS — Wim Fissette, animated and engaged, is holding another coaching clinic.
Sitting in the BNP Paribas Open player’s lounge on Wednesday afternoon, he easily could be a college professor systematically breaking down the curious properties of chemical elements or the foundations of physics.
But this tutorial is focused on his current charge, Iga Swiatek, the No. 2-ranked woman in the world and holder of six Grand Slam singles titles.
At this elite level, being a student of the game is not enough. The very best coaches — and this is true of all sports — are actually talented teachers. They convey their concepts to the player with enough clarity that they can implement the changes necessary to achieve them.
It requires a diverse toolkit: vast technical knowledge, fluent social skills — and the ability to consistently win persuasive arguments.
No coach working in today’s WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz does it quite like Fissette. In the span of 18 remarkable years, he has coached seven different Grand Slam champions — Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka and, now, Swiatek.
Last year, Fissette engineered one of the greatest, slightly under-the-radar coaching efforts in recent years, guiding Swiatek to a stunning title run at Wimbledon that she and many others thought was out of her reach.
“First of all,” Fissette explained, “everything starts with a vision, right? You go into the grass from the clay-court season. … OK, this is the winning game plan, how you’re going to win this tournament. That’s the start. The most difficult part is to get the player behind it.”
Swiatek won four titles on the red clay at Roland Garros in a span of five years, thriving on the high bounces and the slower pace of play. Grass, with its low, skidding balls, gave her fits. Going into last year, Swiatek was 15-8 (.652) on the slick surface, well behind her winning percentage on clay and hard courts.
But by stepping out of her comfort zone, amping up her serve, and willing herself to accept more risk — for the possibility of greater rewards — Swiatek became the Wimbledon champion. She lost only two games in her final two matches, against Belinda Bencic and, in the final, Amanda Anisimova.
Swiatek is the only active woman to win a Grand Slam singles title on each of the three surfaces — and she’s only 24.
The 2026 season has been a work in progress for Fissette and Swiatek — she’s 9-4 so far — who continue to make tweaks to her game. She plays her first match here on Saturday, against the winner of Thursday’s first-round contest between Francesca Jones and qualifier Kayla Day.
Before the shots started counting, Fissette sat down with wtatennis.com in a fascinating, far-ranging conversation:
How did you convince Iga to change the game that was so successful on clay, allowing her to win Wimbledon?
The advantage for me, in a way, was that she didn’t have any success on the grass before. So she was like super open about it, which is different than other surfaces because she won [Roland Garros and the US Open on hard courts]. She was like, ‘Wim, I don’t really know what to do. Just tell me.’ Her expectations were quite low.
So every little improvement brought her joy and, step by step, made her believe a little bit more. And then of course you have the technical difficulties on a certain surface. For some, it’s the high bounce on the clay. For Iga, [on grass] it’s the lower balls in the corners, right? Then the player has that in their head, and you can make improvements in the technical footwork and the technical execution of some shots. And then you come to the place where you believe a little bit more. And then you need wins. Because practice is one thing, but matches are another.
How critical was reaching the final at Bad Homburg going into Wimbledon?
Bad Homburg was important. Because she was open to trying things from the practice. She tried and it immediately worked quite well, and she improved match by match [beating 2024 Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals]. For her, going into the final at Bad Homburg, loose against a very good grass player [Jessica Pegula, who won 6-4, 7-5]. It made her quite confident going into Wimbledon that she might win a few rounds.
Which traits of those great players you’ve coached did you see in Iga when you started working together in the fall of 2024?
Ooof! It’s hard to compare players, but … I think in a way, someone like [Angelique] Kerber. The mentality, which is like super rational, maybe a more negative than positive attitude. Just skeptical and a little bit stubborn [laughing]. But really hard working, fighting, also being let’s say a great mover.
What were some of the specific areas you addressed at the beginning?
I think we were on the same line there — to play better on the faster surfaces, yes? That was the challenge, and for me a clear goal. That was something I already had solutions for, having coached against her. Serve was one. She was more going for body serves, middle, high-percentage, and now she’s serving more to spots. Another thing on fast surfaces, positioning herself back [on return, particularly] so that she has time to hit her shots, more like clay.
And the third is the footwork on faster, lower balls. On footwork, you have the intensity but also the technical, which is different on every surface. That’s something that we really focused on.
In some ways, Iga is a victim of her own success … She’s won more Grand Slam singles titles (six) than anyone you’ve ever coached. She’s only 24 years old, but she doesn’t seem terribly impressed.
No, because she’s somebody that doesn’t really look back. She only looks forward. She looks at today and tomorrow. She’s got her feet on the ground. She knows if she doesn’t bring the work every single day and the focus that success … stops at some point. She obviously loves to win. It’s why she wins — the drive and the motivation to win.
In her mind, what do you think she thinks is possible to achieve in this game?
It’s hard to say. A lot will depend on how much she will keep evolving as a player, right? That is the key, that is what we saw in all the greatest players over the past 20 years. Roger [Federer] kept getting better, Rafa [Nadal] kept getting better, so that’s obviously up to her.
I don’t like to say numbers, but she has the possibility to win several more Slams. But again, we all know how hard it is to win a Grand Slam, and there are a lot of great players out there. And every single year there are more competitors coming at the highest level. There’s a breakthrough, you have a [Victoria] Mboko, a [Iva] Jovic — you see them coming.
Iga was once one of those players …
Yes, there was a point [2022-23] that Iga was, of course, far ahead of the rest, far ahead, when [Ashleigh] Barty retired and she achieved No. 1, when Naomi [Osaka] took some breaks. But, for me, she’s a player that brought female tennis to the next level, with her athleticism. She gave a good example to others and some others also wanted to achieve big things and they also brought themselves to the next level. That’s how it goes. If you look at the people you compete with, you want to beat them. So how are you going to do that? By doing better.
In today’s game, with all the technical advances in training, equipment, analytics, nutrition, we see players thriving in their late 20s, even early 30s. That has to be encouraging for a 24-year-old?
Definitely. We all know that a tennis career is not a race. You don’t need to be 17 and Top 10 in the world, it doesn’t mean you’re going to have a better career than someone who reaches the Top 100 at 19. So it’s all about how you can keep developing yourself. When you work the right way with the right people, there are no limits.
There’s always room for improvement — with technique, tactics. Maybe also racquets and shoes. Even recovery. But, yes, that’s the fun thing about Iga — she’s so young and has achieved so much, but there’s still so much to achieve ahead of her.
Does she believe she can return to her dominance of 2022-23?
I don’t think she thinks like that. She’s just focused on short-term and the next tournament. But it’s what she wants.
