Read an exclusive interview with Iga Swiatek's coach Wim Fissette about what it is to coach a player who somehow is not allowed to lose. Also catch up with Madrid's action, post power outage included.
Loved the interview with Wim, so insightful! I'm really interested to see how Iga's overall game develops over the next year. It doesn't sound like Wim has made many changes on the serve so far so her weaker stats this year could be other players studying her and learning how to attack her serve more - or it could be a confidence issue. I really hope Iga can forget the rankings, ignore the haters, and get her confidence back because it's so fun seeing her play her best and competing for titles.
I'm interested to read your thoughts on the Alcaraz doc after you've seen it. In addition to the comments on his partying, I didn't like all the "If Carlos wants to be the greatest player of all time... " comments. That's a lot of pressure to put on a young player. It's not that clear if that's Carlos' goal and he put that pressure on himself, or if it comes from his team...
Yeah, I don't think they touched the serve too much indeed and here in Madrid it's been back to a very steady level. I think they're more going to work on keeping it efficient, rather than trying to go for a huge change. As he told me, she doesn't really need that right now. I think that had she won the semi-final match against Keys in Melbourne, her start of the year might have looked different. I also agree that her rivals have for sure studied her a lot and clearly come up with a plan. That's part of the territory. She's smart, she's gonna figure it out. Also Ostapenko didn't help her this year lol
As for Alcaraz, I think it comes from a point where Ferrero has always been a very disciplined person with very high standards. And that he saw what it demanded the Big 4 to be the Big 4. And Alcaraz clearly has the potential. Thing is, not everyone wants that type of life. But Alcaraz himself started by saying he wanted to be the best in history... when it was easy I'd say for him. Now that Sinner's around and that things are getting tougher, he's seeing the amount of sacrifices and pressure he's signing for and maybe he doesn't want that. A very interesting case. But I've said it for a while already: He needs to play way less because clearly he needs a fresh mind to compete this one and he might get a tired mind much faster than the Big 4.
Loved the interview with Wim, so insightful! I'm really interested to see how Iga's overall game develops over the next year. It doesn't sound like Wim has made many changes on the serve so far so her weaker stats this year could be other players studying her and learning how to attack her serve more - or it could be a confidence issue. I really hope Iga can forget the rankings, ignore the haters, and get her confidence back because it's so fun seeing her play her best and competing for titles.
I'm interested to read your thoughts on the Alcaraz doc after you've seen it. In addition to the comments on his partying, I didn't like all the "If Carlos wants to be the greatest player of all time... " comments. That's a lot of pressure to put on a young player. It's not that clear if that's Carlos' goal and he put that pressure on himself, or if it comes from his team...
Thank you!
Yeah, I don't think they touched the serve too much indeed and here in Madrid it's been back to a very steady level. I think they're more going to work on keeping it efficient, rather than trying to go for a huge change. As he told me, she doesn't really need that right now. I think that had she won the semi-final match against Keys in Melbourne, her start of the year might have looked different. I also agree that her rivals have for sure studied her a lot and clearly come up with a plan. That's part of the territory. She's smart, she's gonna figure it out. Also Ostapenko didn't help her this year lol
As for Alcaraz, I think it comes from a point where Ferrero has always been a very disciplined person with very high standards. And that he saw what it demanded the Big 4 to be the Big 4. And Alcaraz clearly has the potential. Thing is, not everyone wants that type of life. But Alcaraz himself started by saying he wanted to be the best in history... when it was easy I'd say for him. Now that Sinner's around and that things are getting tougher, he's seeing the amount of sacrifices and pressure he's signing for and maybe he doesn't want that. A very interesting case. But I've said it for a while already: He needs to play way less because clearly he needs a fresh mind to compete this one and he might get a tired mind much faster than the Big 4.