“I feel disappointment, bitterness, and responsibility,” Iga Swiatek admitted after her second-round exit at the Miami Open back in March. Not long after, she parted ways with coach Wim Fissette, with a difficult start to the season seemingly playing a big role in that decision. Early exits, a dip in form, and a struggle to find her usual rhythm had left the Pole searching for answers.

That search led her to bring Rafael Nadal’s ex-coach Francisco Roig into her team, hoping the experienced Spaniard could help turn things around ahead of the clay-court swing. And for a while, it looked like Swiatek was set for a strong run on her favorite surface. But after an unexpected fourth-round exit at Roland Garros, she once again found herself facing questions about potential changes within her camp.

At her post-match press conference in Paris, Swiatek revealed that her arrangement with Roig was always meant to be temporary and the duo will most probably part ways after the grass-court swing. She also hinted that bringing a second coach into the setup had been part of the plan from the beginning, suggesting that further changes to her team could still be on the horizon.

“I hired Francis knowing that a second coach would be added at some point, because he won’t do the entire season with me.” She further added, “For now, I’m not thinking about it too much, because I know that we’ll do the next trips together and probably after Wimbledon I might think about it more.”

Sticking with Roig through Wimbledon seems like the logical move for Swiatek. As the defending champion, the Pole is unlikely to want a major shake-up in her camp right before the grass-court major. Roig, meanwhile, brings plenty of experience on the surface, having spent years as part of Nadal’s coaching team and helping guide the Spaniard through two Wimbledon title runs. That experience could prove valuable as Swiatek looks to mount a successful title defense.

This will be the third year running that Swiatek will be in action at Wimbledon with a different coach. Back in 2024, she played at the grass-court Slam with Tomasz Wiktorowski in her corner, where she had a thrid round exit.

Last year, it was Wim Fissette sitting in Swiatek’s box after she brought him in with a clear goal: improving her results on faster surfaces. By that measure, the partnership could certainly be viewed as a success. After all, Swiatek went on to win Wimbledon, a tournament where she had never previously made it past the quarterfinal stage.

However, in her attempts to improve performances on the faster surfaces, Swiatek’s performances on clay have dipped in the last two years. The red dirt was where the Pole had built her dominance, but it looks like she has to readjust her skills to be successful on the surface once again.

French Open exit extends Swiatek’s clay struggles

Once considered nearly unbeatable on clay, Swiatek has seen her dominance on the surface fade over the last two years, with results falling short of the standards she set for herself.

The Pole’s last clay-court title came in 2024, when she dominated the European clay swing, winning Madrid, Rome, and Roland Garros in succession.

One of the biggest reasons behind Swiatek’s decline on clay has been the dip in effectiveness of two key weapons: her serve and her trademark topspin-heavy forehand. In an effort to become more dangerous on faster surfaces, she worked on flattening out her forehand last year, a change that paid off on lower-bouncing courts.

But it also seemed to take away some of the margin and spin that once made her so dominant on clay, where her heavy topspin and exceptional movement had long been her biggest strengths.

And in 2026 season, Swiatek struggled to get beyond the quarterfinal stage, a run she finally snapped with a semifinal appearance in Rome. Now, with questions still surrounding the makeup of her coaching team, the Pole will turn her attention to Wimbledon, where she returns as the defending champion.