What happened to Iga Swiatek that went wrong on clay in 2025, coach Wim Fissette explains

Iga Swiatek's coach Wim Fissette recently explained why the Pole failed to win any titles in the 2025 European clay court swing. According to Fissette, Swiatek's failures boiled down to the high expectations surrounding her due to her successful clay court campaigns in past seasons along with the exceptional form of her rivals Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka.

The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart marked Iga Swiatek's first clay tournament in 2025. Here, she was ousted in the quarterfinals by Jelena Ostapenko. Next, at the Madrid Open, Coco Gauff came out on top against her in the semis. Subsequently, at the Italian Open, Danielle Collins eliminated her in the Round of 32 and at Roland Garros, Aryna Sabalenka got the better of her in the last four.

The Pole's results raised eyebrows and sparked discussions, particularly because of the incredible amount of success she enjoyed on clay in previous seasons. Recently, her coach Wim Fissette appeared on the Break Point podcast. Here, he first touched on the high expectations that weighed Swiatek down during the 2025 clay swing.

"A tennis season always has highs and lows. It's part of tennis and the top players, they get out of the lows pretty quickly and I think that's what Iga did this year. The clay court season was a season where she could only lose. The expectations were sky high. I've never been with a player where the expectations for a certain season were that high," Fissette said. (from 10:27)

Going on to cite the good form displayed by Gauff and Sabalenka on clay in 2025, the Belgian tennis coach added:

"You go into a new season where the season before you won Madrid, Rome, Paris (French Open). So you cannot win points. You can only do less good than the year before. There are a lot of good players out there, so it's not easy. We all know that Coco and Sabalenka can play very well on the clay. It's not easy."

Iga Swiatek bounced back to form on grass in 2025 tennis season after disappointments on clay

Iga Swiatek poses with the women's singles trophy at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships (Source: Getty)

Following her disappointing clay court results in 2025, Iga Swiatek turned up for the grass swing renewed. At the Bad Homburg Open, the Pole reached the final, but was denied the title by Jessica Pegula.

Despite the final loss, Swiatek regrouped remarkably and went on to beat Caty McNally, Danielle Collins, Clara Tauson, Liudmila Samsonova and Belinda Bencic to reach the women's singles final of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. In the final, she produced a clinical display, dispatching Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to win the grass Major for the first time, taking her Grand Slam title haul to six.

Swiatek ended her competitive outings in 2025 following her Round Robin phase exit from the year-end WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Edited by Sudipto Pati