Iga Swiatek's 'relationship' with psychologist questioned after outbursts on court: 'Boundaries have been crossed...'

Iga Swiatek has been accused of having a ‘disturbed relationship’ with a sports psychologist, with a former player also labelling it as ‘more than a friend’.

Iga Swiatek has lately become a mainstay in controversy since her one-month doping ban last year. Now, the Polish tennis ace has been once again thrust into the spotlight, but for scandalous reasons.

Iga Swiatek and her sports psychologist have been accused of having an unprofessional relationship.(Instagram (Jimmy48tennis))

Dariusz Nowicki, a respected psychologist from Poland, recently spoke to sport.interia, where he accused Swiatek and her sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz of not having a professional relationship. In the past too, her relationship with her psychologist has been pointed out as being too friendly rather than professional. More recently after her outbursts on court during Indian Wells have been questioned and blamed on her unprofessional relationship with her sports psychologist.

“This is an accurate statement. A statement by a player, admittedly, and not an expert in the art of coaching or sports psychology, but an athlete who - I assume - closely observes the tennis reality. And he himself has worked with psychologists. As I say, this is an accurate statement in my opinion, and not only by Mr. Janowicz, because several tennis commentators have also made similar statements, and from their mouths have appeared terms such as confidante and mentor,” he said.

“If we were to look at this relationship only and exclusively from the point of view of strictly psychological workshop, then it is indeed a disturbed relationship, in which certain boundaries of professional distance between the psychologist and the client are crossed.”

Further explaining himself, he continued, “In our professional work, we should not allow ourselves to have such close relationships. Because it distorts the assessment of the situation. Unfortunately, most errors in perception occur when emotions are aroused. Regardless of whether these are positive or negative emotions, then we make errors in the accuracy of observation. A certain psychological distance in relation to the client, who is the athlete, or in general to the training team, which is with the athlete or team, is essential.”

“Someone in this group must maintain some common sense and emotional self-control, and the psychologist should be such a person the most. While coaches allow themselves to have quite big emotions in starting situations, being a co-participant in this event, a psychologist professionally involved in sports psychology should be able to keep their distance and not get involved in emotions. Only then will they be able to function effectively within their professional competences,” he added.

‘More than a friend’

Nowicki was asked the questions in regard to Jerzy Janowicz’s earlier remarks. The former Polish player accused Swiatek’s psychologist of being more than a friend. “I'd rather call her a friend than a psychologist. Most good psychologists who work with the best athletes in the world tend to keep to themselves. We often don't even know they exist,” he said in an interview with Sport.pl.