“Female tennis players face violence” – Iga Swiatek’s coach makes frustrations clear with rampant social media abuse against WTA stars

September 12, 2025

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Iga Swiatek’s coach, Wim Fissette, highlighted the social media abuse WTA stars have received in recent times. Notably, the Polish player herself has been on the receiving end of social media trolls and hatred several times in her career.

Swiatek became an even greater recipient of the negative side of social media after her doping suspension earlier this year. Besides this, the 2025 Wimbledon champion also faced a harsh incident at the Miami Open, where she was abused for her relationship with her mother.

Besides Swiatek, several other WTA tennis stars, such as Coco Gauff, have faced similar treatment from social media in recent times. Speaking up about this, Swiatek’s coach, Fissette, shared that even though the WTA tries to help its players immensely, social media is a vulnerable space for these players, and it isn’t changing. He said (via Rzeczpospolita):

"The WTA is doing a lot to protect the players. That's clear. A bigger problem is social media, where female tennis players face violence. Both the WTA and the ATP are trying to find solutions to best protect their players. I think, they're doing a lot of good work in this field, but we won't fix it overnight and eliminate all threats overnight."

Notably, Wim Fissette joined Iga Swiatek's camp last year in October. Their time together has been highlighted by the Polish player's maiden victory at Wimbledon earlier this year. Swiatek's recent performances included a quarterfinal exit at the US Open, where she faced defeat at the hands of Amanda Anisimova.

Iga Swiatek explains her defeat to Amanda Anisimova in the 2025 US Open quarterfinals

Iga Swiatek recently made her feelings known about her defeat to Amanda Anisimova in the US Open quarterfinals. The Polish player lost 4-6, 3-6 in straight sets in the match, a month after she defeated Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the finals of Wimbledon.

In an interview after the match, Swiatek heaped praise on Anisimova's skill set and highlighted that the latter played much better than in the Wimbledon finals in July. Swiatek said (via AP News):

"Everybody knows how Amanda can play. Yeah, she didn’t play well in Wimbledon. But it’s not like she’s always going to do the same mistakes or feel the same.... She moved better, she played better. Everything was different."

Notably, before her US Open debacle, Iga Swiatek had a good run at the Cincinnati Masters, where she won the title. The Polish player defeated Jasmine Paolini in straight sets in the finals.

About the author

Soumik is a journalist at Sportskeeda who covers US Olympics. Currently an Honors student of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has also worked for other firms as a tennis and football content writer.

Soumik’s favorite Olympian is Michael Phelps and he believes that the eight-time Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer has revolutionized the spectrum of Swimming. Nonetheless, the adrenaline rush that Track & Field sports offer interests him the most; and Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold-medal victory at the 2020 Tokyo Games is his favorite moment from past Olympics.

Soumik sources data and facts from credible sources like BBC and NBC for accurate and relevant reporting, and keeps up with updates on social media and news media platforms.

He feels that covering collegiate tournaments, similar to what is done in the United States can be a good way to cover the bridge the coverage gap during the Olympics off season.

When not reporting on the latest Olympics news stories, Soumik likes to play cricket and watch movies.

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