Swiatek Defends Coach and Psychologist Despite Disappointing Results

Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 6, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek during a press conference REUTERS/Yves Herman
Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 6, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek during a press conference REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Swiatek Defends Coach and Psychologist Despite Disappointing Results

Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 6, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek during a press conference REUTERS/Yves Herman
Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 6, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek during a press conference REUTERS/Yves Herman

Iga Swiatek has failed to win a tournament in almost a year, but the Polish world number two has defended her coach and psychologist despite the poor run of results and losing her place at the top of the world rankings in a difficult period.
Swiatek parted ways with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski in October after three years, adding Belgian Wim Fissette to her team and in November accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for banned substance trimetazidine.
The five-time Grand Slam winner has drawn a blank since winning last year's French Open, and her latest result saw Swiatek lose her Madrid Open title in a crushing 6-1 6-1 semi-final defeat to Coco Gauff last week.
"Sometimes I'm not happy with the way I play. It's natural, especially with my perfectionism. This can be seen on the court," Swiatek told Polish media outlet SportoweFakty in an interview.
"However, when I come off it, I can look at the season from a broader perspective.
"Then I find a lot of positives. Reaching the quarter-finals or semi-finals is a good result. Again, I am the most even player of the whole season."
According to Reuters, Swiatek was asked if new coach Fissette was responsible for the lack of success.
"No, this is a very harsh and unfair statement," Swiatek said.
"I can only look at the coach from my own perspective, which is the only right one for me, that is, what our work looks like every day.
"The worse results coincided with many other challenges in recent months, also in family life. I found myself at a stage of my career where I had to reformulate my thinking about myself.
Swiatek believes others have improved rather than her regressing.
"The level of tennis in the world is getting higher and higher. The girls got to know my game, they developed themselves," Swiatek said.
"Coco Gauff, who has always been a great talent, is older today and has more experience. Aryna (Sabalenka) managed to make it through the semi-finals and began to win titles."
The 23-year old has been working with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz for the last six years and Swiatek was asked if there was a moment when she thought their cooperation had run its course.
"No. People don't know it, but practically every year there are different challenges," Swiatek replied.
"When I was suspended, I didn't want to go out on the court at all for a few weeks. It was the most difficult experience of my career. Daria is a constant support for me, a person I trust. This is my team, I decide who is in it.
"I am irritated by headlines talking about falling apart or a mental crisis. Of course, sometimes I get annoyed on the court. Sometimes I'm not as focused as I'd like.
"But I work, day in and day out, week in and week out, to be better. So there is no reason to make strange judgements or look for fatigue or burnout."



Ferrari Wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Third Year in a Row

 The 24 Hours of Le Mans - Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France - June 15, 2025 AF Corse's Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Philip Hanson celebrate with the chequered flag after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Reuters)
The 24 Hours of Le Mans - Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France - June 15, 2025 AF Corse's Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Philip Hanson celebrate with the chequered flag after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Reuters)
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Ferrari Wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Third Year in a Row

 The 24 Hours of Le Mans - Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France - June 15, 2025 AF Corse's Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Philip Hanson celebrate with the chequered flag after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Reuters)
The 24 Hours of Le Mans - Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France - June 15, 2025 AF Corse's Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Philip Hanson celebrate with the chequered flag after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Reuters)

Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the third year running Sunday but a late surge from Porsche Penske Motorsport denied the Italian manufacturer a podium sweep.

The No. 83 Ferrari 499P crew of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Philip Hanson took the win as Ferrari won for the 12th time in the 102nd edition of the storied race. Their bright-yellow car, privately entered by the AF Corse team, got the better of Porsche and the two official factory-entered Ferraris.

Kubica took the checkered flag after a marathon spell at the wheel Sunday afternoon to make sure of the win.

“It has been a long 24 hours,” Kubica said to his team over the radio and thanked them in Italian. “Enjoy.”

The Penske-operated No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell surged late in the race to finish second ahead of the two other Ferraris, 14 seconds behind the winner.

For Kubica and Ye, it was redemption after their car — then with Robert Shwartzman as third driver — was a strong contender to win last year's race before a crash, a penalty and finally a race-ending mechanical failure.

It’s a career highlight for 40-year-old Polish driver Kubica, whose promising Formula 1 career was interrupted in 2011 when a crash while competing in a rally left him with severe injuries.

Kubica is the first driver from Poland to win Le Mans outright, and Ye is the first from China to achieve that feat.

“It’s a great story that we finally put a perfect ending with Robert,” Ye told broadcasters. “It looks easier from the outside than it is in the car. It’s just unbelievable.”

Ferrari was off the pace in qualifying, with the two factory cars 7th and 11th on the grid and the eventual winner 13th. But once tennis great Roger Federer waved the starting flag Saturday, Ferrari’s pace over long race runs soon became clear.

After a close fight with Toyota in last year’s race, this time Ferrari often seemed in near-total control. Early Sunday morning, it was on target for the first top-class podium sweep by one manufacturer since 2012.

Ferrari didn’t have it all its own way in the final hours, though.

Alessandro Pier Guidi spun in the No. 51 car on his way into the pits, losing the lead, while the resurgent No. 6 Porsche piled on the pressure.

Le Mans is as much a test of drivers’ resilience as it is the cars’ reliability. Both held up well in an unusually calm race that avoided much of the usual nighttime drama with few significant crashes and just one safety-car period.

Polish team Inter Europol Competition won the LMP2 class and Manthey won the GT3 class in a Porsche 911.

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