Swiatek’s doping offence “did not influence” coach Fissette’s decision to join Pole’s team

Iga Swiatek‘s coach Wim Fissette has defended the Pole amid the doping controversy.

Swiatek has been punished with a month’s ban for failing a dope test in August this year. The world No 2’s samples tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) before the Cincinnati Open and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) opened an investigation against her immediately after.

Amid ITIA’s probe, the five-time Grand Slam champion decided to rejig her team and parted ways with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. She replaced him with Wim Fissette — Belgian coach carrying the experience of working with former world No 1 Naomi Osaka.

One may believe Fissette would have had his reservations about Swiatek’s morality but it recently surfaced the latter wasn’t affected by the doping scandal.

I was sure of her innocence from the beginning, so it did not influence my decision to join the team.”

Wim Fissette to The National

“Trust is the foundation of good relationships in our team from the beginning,” he said. “Iga told me about the case and left the decision about our cooperation to me. I have been observing her for a long time, her values, work ethic, and standards.

“It was an extremely stressful and difficult situation for Iga and the entire team. However, Iga is a fighter on and off the court, and she won this tough battle. Now we will focus together on the upcoming season, supporting each other and working as a team.”

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