"Now Is The Moment To Break Some Barriers," says Pere Riba, coach of Zheng Qinwen
EXCLUSIVE interview with Pere Riba, who brought Zheng Qinwen and Coco Gauff to the top. Also a chat with Fissette after Swiatek's win against Rybakina: a turning point for them?
Welcome back! I’m bringing you two exclusives to start that second week of Roland-Garros. I talked to Wim Fissette, Iga Swiatek’s coach, after her big battle against Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, and I’m wondering if that match could be a turning point in their association. I also had a long conversation with Pere Riba, Zheng Qinwen’s coach, about how he continues to help her develop her game and why he thinks she’s now ready to aim for everything.
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Roland-Garros - Coaching Corner With Pere Riba
“Now Is The Moment To Break Some Barriers”
Pere Riba is discrete but his résumé speaks volume. He helped Coco Gauff win her first Grand Slam title in 2023 at the US Open in the six-month break he took from working with Zheng Qinwen. With Riba, Zheng got to the Australian Open final, won the gold at the Olympics, played the final at the WTA Finals, and is now in the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros for the first time. She also became a huge star in China, piling the endorsements.
Rare fact on Tour these days: Riba started to work with Zheng when she was a junior. Their association consistently demonstrates that thinking long-term is effective. It’s surely not a coincidence that Zheng started to get back to her level this year when Riba came back on Tour after being out for three months following hip surgery. We sat down at the players’ lounge of Suzanne Lenglen to talk about his coaching philosophy. One thing is sure: Pere Riba bleeds tennis, and his obvious passion for the game is refreshing at this level.
Qinwen said that she felt it was time to add things to her game this year, such as coming to the net and hitting drop shots. How did you work on developing her game?
Pere Riba: You must always be ready to learn. She is still really young (22) and has a big margin of improvement. If there are things you don’t have in your game or things you have but that need to be improved, you need to do it. It’s always the moment to add things. Of course, she is already one of the best players in the world, and she has amazing potential, but you still have to work on these small details. You want to make the player more complete because the more tools they have, the easier it is to find a way to win the matches.
It's challenging to find time to work on the game during the season. How do you manage it?
Pere Riba: Yes, well, at least you have a good moment in the pre-season to make these changes. But, even during the season, you have to choose well to find training blocks. It’s getting tricky nowadays because of the WTA 1000s that are held over two weeks, so you really have to plan well. You need the training blocks to make these little changes happen. Then, if you don’t have them, you can also use practice sessions. You put goals. You always ensure that you find an intention in the practice. That is really important to avoid going to the court and then just hitting for the sake of hitting. Of course, you have to do the basics, but then you must find the why. That’s how the player goes to the court with the mindset of, “I want to improve that part of my game.”
I don’t believe in being limited by age in some way. Of course, when they are younger, they can listen a little bit more, but I believe that you can always improve. It doesn't matter the age, 24, 25, 26, 30, or 35, you can always improve. We have the examples of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal to prove it. When you see that this can happen - because they did - then why not others? Women's tennis is the same. They have to be open to improving all the time, and it doesn't matter if you are number 1, number 5, or if you have won a Grand Slam title. You must be open to the idea of continuing to improve, because if not, others will.
Is it easier with Zeng because she is so ambitious and dedicated?
Pere Riba: She is truly open to improvement and change. Especially when she believes in it and when she sees that it's so obvious. I understand that when the player is growing, when the player is getting better, especially in the rankings, sometimes you can doubt about making changes. Everything is working well, right? Everything you are doing is working, and you’re winning a lot of matches; everything seems fine. Yet, there are still small things to improve. You must understand that if you improve, you will become a better player and have a greater chance of winning big events, especially when you are young.
It's a big responsibility when your player is already in the Top 10, having played a Grand Slam final and won the gold at the Olympics…
Pere Riba: Yes, it is. But, in the end, you have to aim as high as you can. In my opinion, she has to aim to be number one and win Slams. If you want to win these events and be at the top, then the process requires these improvements.
“I'm really happy because for a coach to see that your player is improving gives sense to your job. Every year I watch her, she becomes a better player.”
I saw her at the net here, and I was like, “Oh, that’s new!”
Pere Riba: She's going more to the net, she's doing drop shots, she's opening the court more, she's serving much better. And still, she can improve many things. But I'm really happy because for a coach to see that your player is improving gives sense to your job. Every year I watch her, she becomes a better player. Results are another thing because sometimes you can do things well and then have one bad day. However, if you take a global look at the work done over the years, you can see that every year, she has been better than the previous one. I have a lot of faith in her.
Did you already have a vision for a game early in your collaboration?
Pere Riba: I met her when she was 18. I remember that she was ranked 180 and came from juniors. I saw huge potential, but at that moment, it was a different thing: She had good potential on the shot, but there was something in her game patterns that needed work. I love the process that she went through, and you can now see it in the way she uses her heavy forehand. Now, she goes to the court, and she so clearly knows the patterns and what she has to do. Now she's playing with sense. She knows when to attack and when she has to defend. Of course, she needs to improve a lot because everyone can improve, but I'm so happy with the process, seeing how far she’s come since her junior days. It makes me happy to see how she has evolved and how she continues to evolve.
“Now, she goes to the court, and she so clearly knows the patterns and what she has to do.”
Long-term work is the only thing that can work…
Well, these days it's not easy to find because young generations don’t have the patience. They want to succeed right now. But they have to believe in that process and show a little bit of patience during the work even when the result isn’t coming at the moment they’d have wanted to. You need to allow time for the process you are undertaking, as things will work out in the long term if you do it correctly. It's going to come.
We often talk about the pressure on the players, but we rarely talk about the pressure on the coach. But you have a pressure to get her to win, also because she has a whole country behind her. How is it to work with somebody who somehow is expected to - and wants to - win, win, win.
Pere Riba: It's coming from the process. In the beginning, the expectations are less because you see that you’re still far away. It's not the same to come to her first French Open where she was like 80th in the world, and now coming here being Top 10 and having won the Olympic Games. Now everybody is talking about you, so the expectations are going high and you feel the pressure that you have to deliver.
But you have to go day by day, because every match is complicated. You can’t start to overthink because if you do, then you won’t have good sensations on the court. You need to just focus on the day. And Grand Slams are long, so the way I see it is to deal with this day by day.
That's funny because you match well with her mindset. Did you have to teach her this way of keeping some distance from the pressure of the results and to focus on the process, or was she always like that?
Pere Riba: When I met her, she had this hunger, so it has made things much easier because, to be honest, when you see someone with that work ethic, that is insane. She has this hunger to become a really good player. Mentally, she’s really strong. Of course, the season is long, so sometimes you have to push a bit, but this is normal.
“She’s getting back to that level, and so now is the moment to break some barriers.”
Do you feel that the gold at the Olympics was a turning point following that first Grand Slam final and before her great end of 2024, with also the final at the WTA Finals?
Pere Riba: Now I'm happy because I remember the level that she got at the end of the season last year. She was playing huge tennis. And I’m also happy because right now, she’s getting back to that level, and so now is the moment to break some barriers. In tennis, of course, many things can happen, but she's feeling strong and confident. I always tell her, “Dream big.”
In terms of her game, what do you think is the next step? In tennis, even perfect somehow needs to find the next level, so…
Pere Riba: She's working on it right now: she's working to be aggressive, to go to the net, and I think she improved a lot in her overall game, also with the drop shots. In the past, she was more like a machine, but now she has different tools that she can use, and now she has to do it when she competes. In the practices, she's doing amazing, and now, in the matches, you can start to see it, but it's a process.
She’s trusting you a lot: Has she believed in you from the start?
Pere Riba: Well, this is how I have to explain it. Now, it's going to be close to five years. In these five years, we stopped playing for six months because in 2023, I was working with another player, Coco, and we stopped for six months, but it's going to be five years. We know each other a lot. Sometimes, we fight on the court, and that is normal, but the most important thing is that when we have these disagreements, both of us are working in the same direction. It’s all about improving and what she can do better.
I told her many times, “Listen, you have to play your game. You don't have to demonstrate. You have to play for yourself.”
I believe that’s what makes it healthy between us because it's for a good reason. And if I have to say something, it’s that she should always keep this humility on the court, to want to be better and improve, because it's what she's doing right. It's the best skill. Because if every day she's better, better and better, the chances to win big events every time are going to be higher. And now I see that she's at a good point to start to fight for that. It's like she can fight, and she has realistic options to fight for that, but other players have the same goal. She has to try to play her tennis, to play free. I told her many times, “Listen, you have to play your game. You don't have to demonstrate. You have to play for yourself.”
Reaching that final in Melbourne was a huge change, I guess, because after that, expectations are about repeating it and then winning one…
Pere Riba: Yeah, here’s how I see it. She arrived at the final of that Australian Open, but in the final, we didn't have chances. She was far away. It was her first Grand Slam final, and I always tell her, “This Grand Slam final that you lost made you win the Olympics.” She lost the final of the WTA finals, she was leading 5-3 in the third set, she lost. Also in Rome, it was 5-3 in the third set (semi-final against Coco Gauff), but she lost. Yet, the WTA finals and the semifinals in Rome will help her win the next big event. It's going to come from the experience that she had.
She has to look at this like she's growing as a player. It was painful, of course, to lose the final of the Grand Slam. It's so painful, but this final is going to make sure that when she plays the next one, she's going to be more ready, and she will have the experience from the past. It's always a process. Sometimes it's on your side, sometimes it’s on your opponent’s side, but the most important is to always fight. If you don't fight, it won't happen. Tennis is a sport where if you don't lose five weeks in the year or six weeks, it's an unbelievable year.
“Tennis is a sport where if you don't lose five weeks in the year or six weeks, it's an unbelievable year.”
You have to analyze the things that you are doing great, the things that you can improve, and all these things will make you a better player. Now it's all about results, results, results, results, but develop the game, develop everything, and then the results are going to come.
Are there things that are the foundation of your coaching? I know coaches don’t like to say the word method, but is there something at the heart of your work?
Pere Riba: You cannot teach all the players the same. This is my way of thinking. Every coach has his book. But, in my opinion, you have to see what the player’s strengths are and which points you can develop, and then you have to make sure that the player, the coach, and the whole team look in the same direction because if not, it won’t work.
Yet, people think you're a magician; you know how that works in this sport. You work with Gauff, she wins a Major; you work with Zheng, and she gets to finals and wins that gold…
Pere Riba: I’m probably not here talking with you if the players are not really good, you know. To be honest, I am very lucky because I like to work a lot, and then both of them are amazing. Really good players, really good quality, and they make things so easy. They’re the important ones because they are the ones jumping on the court. Then, of course, you are helping them, but they are really good. You know, sometimes some players are not going to win a Grand Slam title, and it doesn't matter how much you work. But it's true that if the player has the skills, then you can do a very good job.
Do you think, at this level, work ethic is what makes the difference?
Pere Riba: Well, it's a huge part because, with work, you can cover many things, especially when you have passion for what you do. Then you have the half path done because someone that has passion and someone that likes to do it every day: for them, it doesn’t require effort, it’s not going to be like a punishment. When you love what you do, it's not work. If it's a passion, then you're going to spend eight hours on it every day and enjoy it.
Are you the reason she's so good on clay?
Pere Riba: (He Laughs) Well, she has the skills, the heavy shots that, on the WTA, not too many players can create. She also demonstrated that she can play well everywhere, but especially on clay, I believe that she still has a margin, yes.
ROLAND-GARROS
Have Swiatek and Fissette Been Made Stronger By The Rybakina Trap?
It is entirely possible that that fourth-round win from Iga Swiatek against Elena Rybakina will end up being a turning point in her season and in her collaboration with Belgian coach Wim Fissette. At the very least, it will strengthen it. Why? Because Swiatek got proof that he was right and she was wrong. Even more? She had proof she could trust him. In a player-coach relationship, there’s often a moment that cements—or breaks—the partnership.
Sometimes, you just need to take a step back. From your 2025 results, from the Roland-Garros pressure, and from… the baseline. Iga Swiatek did just that on Sunday while she was about to get kicked out of her Queendom by Elena Rybakina. Down 6-1, 2-0, totally dominated, unable to set up her game, the serve collapsing, Iga Swiatek took one crucial decision. She decided to trust her coach.
“It was Wim’s plan to convince me to try it out”
It would seem an obvious choice because if not, why are you paying the coach? But Swiatek, by her own admission, isn’t the type of person who will go against her gut feeling unless she can see multiple times that her guts are wrong. So it didn’t matter that Fissette told her she needed to take a step back on the return. It didn’t matter they had worked on it at practice. All that mattered was for Swiatek to find herself back on the wall and (finally) take that leap of faith. Losing in Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome didn’t do the trick, but being about to be destroyed by Rybakina on the Chatrier, Her Court, did the job. She gave up on being stubborn and opted to trust Wim Fissette.
“In the second set, I started to return more first serves, and that gave me the opportunity just to play some more balls in. For sure, giving myself more time was the key because Elena really played at an amazing pace, so I needed to adjust to that. I've been practicing that a little bit. It was Wim’s plan to convince me to try it out sometimes, but I wasn't sure if that was my thing because a few years ago when I became more aggressive, I started winning more. I think girls are serving faster now, and everybody is developing, so there are some limits to what you can react to.
I think the coaching actually really helped me today, because I wouldn't come up with this myself. Even though I practice it a little bit, it's still like a weird thing for me to do. But for sure it helped.”
Of course, she had a bit of luck in the process as Rybakina started to miss chances, and her level started to drop a bit. But at this level, you often create that luck. And Swiatek did it by keeping fighting. She didn’t panic and collapse like in Rome. She fought back. Taking a step back to return but taking multiple steps forward in the rallies. Which was only possible because she was finally able to get the point going. Little by little, the confidence came back; she found the time to set up that forehand, and she stopped missing. Swiatek started to dictate again, and when she starts dictating on clay…
Wim Fissette: “Iga Was Brave When She Needed To.”
Wim Fissette was logically relieved when I talked to him after that match. He knew things could have gone extremely wrong and that he and Swiatek had escaped.
“It almost felt like it was going to be a short match,” Fissette said. “It was, on one hand, a very strong start from Rybakina, and we know that she can do that. On the other hand, Iga was not bringing enough quality. Your opponents can only play as good as you allow them to play, and so she really had to step up her game. And she did. At 2-0, she had a good service game, and then we made a little change to return further back to give her more chances on the first serve. That actually worked out really well. Iga was a little bit more comfortable with the return, so she was able to play more rallies. And then I think the level of Rybakina went a little bit down in the second set. And it was just a really strong third set from both players, especially the first six to eight games when both of them were really strong from the baseline. Almost no errors, just winners and forced errors. It was a really tough battle.”
He was also mostly happy about the way Swiatek fought back. She didn’t crumble like she did a bit too often this year. She went for it. She played like the Clay Queen she still is. “Today was excellent, of course, from the mental part to come back from 6-1, 2-0, but also at 4-4 in the third set when she had break points. You thought you had the break, but then you don't, and just coming back, that's what tennis is. You get challenged, or you get beaten down, but you have to step up for the next point, and that's what she did. She was brave when she needed to. She was not hoping to win the point, but she went for the shots more. So, really good improvements from the past week.”
That third set on its own could really change not only Swiatek’s fate in Paris but also throughout the rest of the year. It will seem crazy, but despite everything she has already achieved in her career, Swiatek needed to prove to herself that she could still compete and win the last stretch of a match under pressure.
“It means a lot,” Swiatek said about that win over Rybakina. “I think I needed that kind of win to like feel like I'm able to win under pressure, and even if it's not going the right way, you know, still turn the match around to win it. For sure, it's a great confirmation for me. I for sure wanted to have a match like that. Obviously, it's great to also have full control over the match, but against great players, it's not always going to be possible. I'm happy that I fought, and I also problem-solved. (…) It's a great confirmation for me that I can handle the pressure and everything.”
“For sure, perfectionism has been a little bit harder in the past weeks, but it's not the first time, honestly,” Swiatek
That’s how the first half of the year chipped her confidence: She lost too many close matches and started to wonder if she was the problem. If she could even be strong again. Champions’ minds are both incredibly strong and incredibly fragile at the same time. Swiatek often comes back to the crux of her matter: her perfectionism. In the same way, her stubbornness explains her success, so does her perfectionism. Nothing new with champions. What is also nothing new is how both personality traits can turn against them real quick. Swiatek admitted it in Paris.
“I don't think it's possible not to be a perfectionist, but for sure, there are ways to control it a bit more. Lately, when I made some mistakes on the court, I focused on them a little bit too much. I thought I was working on them, but it was more like anchoring them, and I needed to realize that by myself, even though my team told me it was happening. I just thought that I was working on it, and that it was the way to do it. For sure, perfectionism has been a little bit harder in the past weeks, but it's not the first time, honestly. It's just the first time I'm probably speaking so much about it because everybody asks me. So I'm just working on it. It's a constant process.”
And so even down 6-1, 2-0 to Rybakina, Swiatek decided to shrug on her not-so-perfect game of the moment and focus on the fight. “I was also aware when I have this kind of scoreline, that it's not so easy to keep this level. So I just know that I need to be ready when the opportunity arrives. If she's going to let me back a little bit, or if I'm going to make a change to actually be able to play a little more of my game, then I need to have my head clear enough to use it. I was already feeling pretty bad, but I accepted that I could lose the match and that it wouldn’t change the fact that I wanted to fight for it anyway.”
I asked Fissette if this fourth round could end up being a turning point this year for Swiatek and so their association. He’s not a fan of people saying Iga’s first part of the year hasn’t been good enough, but sure, Paris could help. “I read some negative things. We're still far in the race… It's not the most dramatic season. It could have been a lot better if she had won the match point in Australia, but it's been up and down. Clearly, the confidence wasn't at the best in the past week, and this is definitely a confidence boost to win this match. Also, the last three matches were really solid. This one, also, the way she knows now that she has come back from a difficult situation also brings her to her best level when she needs to, and she understands that she really has the game to go very far and compete with all the players out there.”
“I hope we can keep building on this one,” Fissette
The Belgian coach also acknowledged that Swiatek’s serve and forehand were suddenly looking like their vintage selves in the third set. Why not earlier? “Trust, confidence,” Fissette points at. “Playing to create and to win every point, instead of hoping. Maybe at the beginning, it was a little bit more passive. She really fought into the match. Her quality is everything. That's the quality she needs to bring. Even in the last game, I think those were her fastest serves. It's all about the energy that she can put into every ball. I hope she can do it from the first point in the next match. I hope we can keep building on this one.”
It seems Roland-Garros would be the ideal place to beat whatever demons have regularly come for Swiatek’s game this year. What better place than the Chatrier? Of course, Fissette can’t just count on a Roland-Garros effect, but he doesn’t deny that it could be a nice bonus. “I don't think Iga is like that. It's more about putting in the work and trusting her game. I've seen a lot of good tennis practices also in the last week, but I see her play better now. So what is it? Is it, without saying it, maybe some positive memories here? We don't speak about it, but from my experience, if you go somewhere where you have a lot of positive memories, it always helps. So I would definitely believe it helps her.” Would be logical for the Clay Queen, I joke to Fissette. “She is. She's already proven herself. She's a clay queen,” he answered. The Clay Crown still on her head, but will it remain there until the end, again, this year?
SOME BREAK POINTS…
🌟 Lois Boisson, helloooooo! On Monday, she became the second Women’s Singles quarter-finalist at Roland Garros as a wild card after Mary Pierce in 2002. How? By beating third seed Jessica Pegula (3-6, 6-4, 6-4) on Chatrier. Boisson, 22 and ranked 361, was already on the rise last year, but she tore the ACL of her left knee a couple of weeks before Roland-Garros, where she had already been awarded a wild card. Talk about a full circle!
With her heavy spin on the forehand and that slice on the backhand, she totally got into Pegula’s head in that fourth round. Incredible all around, also on the way she covers for that backhand that has gone from a weakness (she’s rarely able to hit it with both hands) to a true weapon. Boisson is the first French female player to reach the quarterfinals here since Carolina Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in 2017.
🚑 Tallon Griekspoor had to retire from his fourth round down a set and a break due to an abdominal injury sustained at practice this morning, which flared up again in the warm-up of the match. “Probably one of the biggest matches of my life against an opponent that I like to play on a beautiful court. So I just want to give it a shot, but yeah, realized pretty early that it was not going to be my day,” he told the press.
👶 French tennis hopes were on the court for the start of the Roland-Garros junior on Monday.
