{"id":1998,"date":"2026-04-08T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1998"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:00:21","slug":"rafael-nadal-coaching-iga-swiatek-should-be-illegal-according-to-worried-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1998","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal coaching Iga Swiatek \u2018should be illegal\u2019 according to worried rival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iga Swiatek\u2019s<\/a> move to team up with coach Francisco Roig has delivered an intriguing spin-off, with clay court tennis legend Rafael Nadal<\/a> also having an input into the Polish star\u2019s preparations for her return to the red dirt.<\/p>\n

Roig worked with 22-time Grand Slam winning legend Nadal during his remarkable career, with his prowess on a clay court second to none in the history of the sport.<\/p>\n

Nadal was virtually unbeatable on clay for most of his career, with his 14 French Open titles a record that is unlikely to be beaten.<\/p>\n

So the sight of the clay court master Nadal working with four-time French Open champion Swiatek as she looks to build herself back to the top of the sport sent shivers down the spine of two potential rivals.<\/p>\n

Jessica Pegula showed her clay court prowess by retaining the Charlestown Open final last weekend and 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys will also be hopeful of making an impact on clay this year.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Iga Swiatek sends 18-word thank you message to Rafael Nadal as videos of training with legend emerge<\/a><\/p>\n

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard launches attack on Rafael Nadal\u2019s ex-coach for teaming up with Iga Swiatek<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking on the latest episode of the Player\u2019s Box podcast<\/a>, Pegula and Keys didn\u2019t try to hide their concern over the prospect of Swiatek picking up clay court tips from Nadal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s perfect for Iga,\u201d said Pegula.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the clip of them on the clay, and I was like, \u2018Ugh, this is bad for everybody.\u2019 I was like, \u2018This should be illegal; why is this happening.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Key was also less than impressed as she said: \u201cI was, like, \u2018Oh God. The last thing we needed Iga to have on the clay was Rafa. No, that\u2019s not allowed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has also given his view on Swiatek\u2019s new coaching hire, as he spoke on the latest episode of his Off Court with Greg Rusedski<\/em><\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Iga\u2019s a [former] world No 1, when the agent goes out and looks for somebody: \u2018Have you been with another No 1 player? Have you won a Slam?\u2019 And that\u2019s where Francisco fits the mould because the fact that he was with Rafa when he won majors. He\u2019s been in the industry a long time.<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what Iga\u2019s brief is to her agent: if you haven\u2019t worked with a No 1, or haven\u2019t coached a player to No 1 or a Slam win, she\u2019s not even having a look at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also getting that mentality. Sometimes Swiatek looks a bit too intense. She\u2019s got to learn how to go off court and relax, and then bring the intensity on court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure she\u2019ll get the balance right, but this clay-court season coming up is huge because she was supposed to be the new Rafa in the women\u2019s game; just dominating clay every year, winning Roland Garros. But it hasn\u2019t happened, so interesting to see where that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Iga Swiatek\u2019s ex-coach Wim Fissette delivers candid verdict in first interview since split<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Rafael Nadal coaching Iga Swiatek \u2018should be illegal\u2019 according to worried rival<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iga Swiatek\u2019s move to team up with coach Francisco Roig has delivered an intriguing spin-off, with clay court tennis legend Rafael Nadal also having an input into the Polish star\u2019s preparations for her return to the red dirt. Roig worked with 22-time Grand Slam winning legend Nadal during his remarkable career, with his prowess on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}