Imagine this: you are a coach who’s been given the opportunity to coach 5-time Slam winner, Iga Swiatek. Would you take it? Well, it would be tough for anyone to decline. However, it wasn’t the case with renowned WTA coach Sandra Zaniewska. Last year, Swiatek was going through a slump, and after her shocking US Open exit, she decided to separate from her long-time coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski. With this, she ended her three-year partnership with him and bringing Wim Fissette on board. But Zaniewska also had the chance to join Swiatek’s team, she firmly turned it down out of loyalty.

When Swiatek was in search of a new coach last year, Zaniewska was already coaching Marta Kostyuk. Essentially, Swiatek was looking at a foreign coach, though Zaniewska was also in the running. “I’m in the middle of first talks with coaches from abroad (non-Polish) because I’m ready to take the next step of my career,” wrote Swiatek in her statement. However, Zaniewska decided to continue her partnership with Kostyuk and stayed loyal to her.

Talking about why she didn’t accept Swiatek’s offer, Zaniewska said, “For me as a person it would be a big faux pas if I left not only Marta, but anyone, to go work with someone else. I would not be able to sleep soundly then.” Earlier, she also revealed that coaching wasn’t her top choice, saying, “I didn’t want to be a coach, so it was a surprise to me. I only agreed to it because Petra [Martic, a former student] and I were close enough that I really wanted to help her. I wanted her to succeed. I didn’t know why she believed in me. I said, ‘OK, if you believe in it, then there must be something to it.”

Ever since winning the French Open last year, it has been a steep downfall for Swiatek. She has failed to win a title since then and also slipped to the eighth spot in the WTA rankings. Moreover, the grass-court season hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Swiatek, and her struggles are set to continue over the coming weeks if she can’t turn it around. On the other hand, Zaniewska is enjoying coaching Kostyuk, and she is now inside the top 30 after starting slowly before joining hands with the Polish coach.

Swiatek then decided to go with Wim Fissette, and the two have a lot of work to do if Swiatek has to find her lost mojo back. Although she’s lost momentum on the WTA rankings chart, she made a candid confession about this.

Iga Swiatek is unconcerned by the dip in her ranking

Over the years, Swiatek had the habit of lying at the top of the WTA rankings chart. With five Grand Slam wins, the Pole never looked back until her dip in form began in the second half of the 2024 season. Nonetheless, Swiatek believes that the form is key instead of a player’s ranking.

She revealed, “I don’t think about it every day, my perspective hasn’t changed: even when I was on top, I always said I wouldn’t focus on the ranking. When I returned in February after the Australian Open, I had a moment of disappointment regarding how I lost my ranking. However, there I chose to focus on the work.”

Further, she went on to add, “I think many girls had gotten used to being higher up, and I did too for a while. Sports work differently, and everyone knows that not everything stays the same: there are players who improve, there is constant competition. I won’t always be the first. I know my abilities and what I can show on the court, and the fact that I play with a number next to my name doesn’t change that.”

The Pole is yet to open her grass court campaign and will feature directly at the Wimbledon Championships. It’ll be interesting to see if Swiatek can overcome her poor form and perform better at Wimbledon.