Iga Swiatek hires ex-coach of Osaka, Azarenka and Clijsters as search concludes before WTA Finals

With the WTA Finals coming up, the question would be if Iga Swiatek was able to hire a new coach in time for the end of season tournament. But she now has announcing the successor to Tomasz Wiktorowski on Thursday morning.

Swiatek split with her long-time ally after winning most of her Grand Slam and WTA 1000 titles with the Pole as she looked for a fresh pair of eyes. She noted that she would look for a coach from abroad as opposed to in her own country and she has done just that. She has hired Wim Fissette.

The Belgian coach ironically has recently had his own coaching split. He left Qinwen Zheng to realign with Naomi Osaka in what was at best a fractious split. Only for the Japanese ace to search for a different direction herself. She recently hired Patrick Mouratoglou as her new coach.

But it is a move that makes sense for Swiatek perhaps given that she has the tools at her disposal in terms of her game and it just needs polishing for other surfaces. Fissette has worked with some of the world's best with Kim Clijsters starting his career back in 2009. He has since cycled through a myriad of top names including Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka twice, Johanna Konta and Angelique Kerber.

As well as the aforementioned Qinwen Zheng who he helped bring on to new levels before their split last year. "So I have news for you today as I'm excited and motivated to start a new chapter," she wrote. "I'm happy to announce that Wim Fissette is joining our team. As you know, I'm preparing for the WTA Finals but my perspective is, as always, long-term, not short-term. I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint and I'm working operating and making decisions with this approach."

"I want to say that I'm very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision and huge experience at a very top level of tennis. It's always crucial to try and get to know each other better but we're off to a good start and I can't wait to compete soon."