One of tennis’ great coaches there has been a shift in mindset for players who take on Iga Swiatek.
Since 2022 the Pole has been one of the game’s best players and for the majority of the last three years, she was the WTA Tour’s most dominant competitor.
But since Swiatek claimed the 2024 French Open title, the landscape of the WTA Tour has changed.
She has not won a trophy since, and she was usurped by Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the rankings, and she has a very healthy lead at the summit of the game.
Swiatek is still trying to win a championship this season, but so far this season she has shown the ease with which she used to progress throughout some tournaments has to an extent, been stripped away.
Brad Gilbert says what has changed for players when they face Iga Swiatek now
Iga Swiatek carried an aura of invincibility around her during her dominant period, especially throughout her 37-match win streak in 2022.
She struck fear into her opponents with her heavy ground strokes and immaculate footwork, often blowing opponents away in quick time.
While Swiatek is still capable of those performances and she has illustrated that this season, the number of these displays has decreased, and Coco Gauff’s former coach Brad Gilbert thinks he knows why.
“Swiatek, it’s crazy, it has been 48 weeks now since she has won a tournament,” Gilbert told Tennis Channel. “You build the equity of beating lots of players, especially on this surface, and you almost think it’s a given that she is going to make a deep run.
“But I think the biggest change is that when you start losing a few matches, especially against players who have not had much success against you, a lot of players come out with a different perspective of playing against you.
“[They think] maybe there is a decent opportunity, whereas 12 months ago there was zero hope, you hope not to get crushed. She is facing that challenge. Players are playing with a completely different attitude towards her.”
Who was the last player Brad Gilbert coached?
Gilbert has not been a tennis coach on tour since parting ways with Coco Gauff in September 2024.
Following a difficult summer in which she failed to go beyond the quarter-finals at five successive events, the 21-year-old ended her partnership with Gilbert.
The year before however, Gilbert guided Gauff through the most successful period of her tennis career.
She won the 2023 Washington Open and Cincinnati Masters, before winning her first grand Slam title at the US Open.
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