Iga Swiatek keeps rolling with her new Tecnifibre racquet, the T-Fight 300

There’s an old locker room adage that once players have success with a particular racquet and shoes they should never switch. Iga Swiatek clearly has other ideas. At the end of last season she changed her footwear from Asics to On, and she started 2024 with a new Tecnifibre frame.

After spending the equivalent of nearly two years ranked No. 1, many players might be satisfied with the status quo. But Swiatek is always searching for an edge. Whether it’s her mental approach, on-court tactics or her gear, she remains open and willing to experiment. She earned her lofty ranking, along with her three of her four career Grand Slam titles, using her signature Tempo 298 racquet, but she believed there was still room for improvement.

“Elite players witness their game, skills, and physique evolve over time, prompting some to adjust their equipment throughout their careers to accommodate these changes,” says Philippe Oudshoorn, Tecnifibre’s head of marketing in the U.S. “For Iga, she knew she was physically getting stronger and wanted to calibrate her racquet accordingly.”

So during this past off-season when Swiatek had a break from competition, the Tecnifibre team—spearheaded by its racquet expert, Dieter Calle—convened at Swiatek’s training base in Warsaw to audition potential new racquets. There were three main goals on the wish list: 1) work on the frame’s maneuverability; 2) improve its performance at net; 3) create even more swing speed on her forehand. They used their TecniLab equipment, which includes trackman technology, to provide objective data to support Swiatek’s findings.

“Dieter worked with Iga's coach to propose three different racquets for 'blind' testing,” says Oudshoorn. “Iga tested each frame and went through numerous drills to feel the difference and start forming her opinion of what she felt was best for her."

The winner from the trio was the latest T-Fight 300. It shares certain similarities with Swiatek’s prior racquet, but adds some new wrinkles to her game. She has been playing with her own signature version of the frame, which has been customized to her personal specifications, but the base model of Swiatek's T-Fight 300 has the identical composition to the one offered to consumers.

“Tecnifibre players on tour play with the exact frame that is in our racquet family, but slightly refined to their individual needs,” says Oudshoorn. “Chris Eubanks is a good example. Chris plays with the T-Fight 315, but being 6-foot-7 and serving 130-plus mph, he required some additional weight to support his world-class weapons on court.”

The early returns look good for Swiatek and her new racquet.

She’s off to an 11-1 start this year, which includes her third consecutive title in Doha and a 3-0 record against Top 10 opponents.

However, if the past is any indication, Swiatek won’t rest on her laurels.