Iga Swiatek‘s coach, Francisco Roig, only joined her team at the beginning of April. But a harmless training game in Rome left him on crutches and neeting surgery when he tore his Achilles.
Roig has since been to Poland for his operation and is already back in Rome, cheering Swiatek on while wearing a large boot.
The world No. 3 revealed that they were practising on the temporary clay courts at the iconic Piazza del Popolo when things took a turn.
“Basically, we’re having a practice on Piazza del Popolo. It was supposed to be a live practice. We were like, Okay, I’m going to play this fun game we were playing before. I wanted to show it to him. He’s really good on the volley. So we made a bet for €100. I thought I was going to lose, honestly, because he’s been playing so great, the volley. I was like, Maybe let’s play only the singles court. It’s half-court basically. Let’s play bubbles. I want to win, I’ll make you move a little bit,” she said after beating Caty McNally on Friday.
“Basically, I had 5-4 and the match point already. He did a split step and tore his Achilles. It happened on Saturday. On Tuesday, he had surgery already in Warsaw. We kind of took care of him. Yeah, he really wanted to be back, not to take time off. I really appreciate that he’s here because, for sure, it’s not easy for him. We’re trying to take care of him. We also kind of wanted to show the team effort, you know? Yeah, I broke my coach’s Achilles…”