World No. 2 Iga Świątek has had a disappointing couple of outings at Indian Wells and the Miami Open these past couple of weeks. At Indian Wells, she fell to world No. 6 Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals 6-7, 6-1, 3-6 and then at the Miami Open this week, she fell to Alexandra Eala in the quarterfinals 2-6, 5-7. Eala is a 19 year old from the Philippines who came into the Miami Open as a wild card ranked 140th in the world. That loss in particular really stung for Swiatek as she came in as the heavy favorite.
During her match against Eala, Swiatek seemed to not be getting along with her coach Wim Fissette as she was shouting at him. That revealed some cracks in their relationship and indicates that they need to iron out some things at a minimum. The issue from what has been reported as been Fissette talking to her too much during the matches. Perhaps he should pull back and just let Swiatek do her thing. Given that coaches can now talk to their players a lot more freely during matches, finding that right balance is something that every player and coach is going to have to figure out.
While the results aren't what Swiatek wanted, it's not like she had a horrible two weeks. Losing in the quarterfinals and semifinals at back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments isn't bad. The bigger issue is the way she lost, especially to Eala. If she wants to win her fifth Roland Garros title this year and get back in the winner's circle at a grand slam, she's going to have to get these dynamics with Fissette figured out. It'll be interesting to see how things go and whether or not they get things sorted out.
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