What occurs while you pair the most productive participant at the WTA Excursion with one among its maximum adorned coaches?
That used to be the query in October, when next global Deny. 1 Iga Swiatek introduced on Wim Fissette as her head trainer. Fissette, a cerebral 44-year-old from Belgium, is extensively thought to be one of the vital manage coaches at the ladies’s excursion next attaining such a lot good fortune with the sort of field of gamers.
Fissette, who by no means cracked the manage 1,000 as a participant within the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, has excelled as a trainer ever since his first process with compatriot Kim Clijsters. At 29, he coached Clijsters when she gained the 2009 U.S. Noticeable having most effective simply returned from maternity reduce, and used to be in her nook for 3 primary titles in overall.
He has since coached an all-star listing of gamers, taking in Sabine Lisicki, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka (two times), Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, Johanna Konta, Angelique Kerber, Zheng Qinwen and maximum not too long ago Naomi Osaka. Fissette and Osaka fracture in September when she changed him with the alternative maximum celebrated trainer at the WTA Excursion, Patrick Mouratoglou.
Below Fissette’s steering, Osaka gained the 2020 U.S. Noticeable and 2021 Australian Noticeable, taking his Elegant Slam overall as a trainer to 6 next Kerber’s Wimbledon win of 2018. He additionally took each Lisicki (2013 Wimbledon) and Halep (2014 French Noticeable) to their first Elegant Slam finals. In 2017, he helped Konta win the WTA 1000 Miami Noticeable and achieve the Wimbledon semifinals for the primary moment, attaining a career-high rating of Deny. 4.
His first event with Swiatek sees him tasked with protecting a name and serving to to orchestrate a imaginable go back to the manage of the arena scores next she relinquished the Deny. 1 slot to Aryna Sabalenka having dropped issues for lacking obligatory tournaments. She opens her WTA Excursion Finals marketing campaign in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia towards Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, in a round-robin team additionally containing Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the extreme of whom Swiatek thrashed to win latter yr’s tournament in Cancun, Mexico.
Regardless of his recognition and glittering CV, Fissette has remained in large part nameless, in one among few sports activities the place it’s imaginable for an elite trainer to stock a low media profile. It’s gamers who habits post-match interviews and press meetings, not like soccer through which, week gamers will talk, it’s the executive’s opinion and emotions which can be sought next each win, draw, or defeat.
Wim Fissette and Iga Swiatek’s first tournament in combination is the WTA Excursion Finals. (Robert Prange / Getty Photographs)
Talking to people who have labored with Fissette and unmistakable him function up akin, in addition to resources akin to Swiatek, a few of whom have spoken anonymously to give protection to relationships, The Athletic has taken a deeper have a look at how the Belgian operates to know one of the crucial thrilling training partnerships in fresh reminiscence because it strikes from the apply courts to a stadium for the primary moment.
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There’s an alchemy within the coach-player dating that makes it no longer all the time really easy to are expecting, even with somebody as skilled and adaptable as Fissette. Gamers often speak about their partnership with a trainer in romantic phrases, making the purpose that from time to time you click on with somebody, from time to time you don’t.
And each participant wishes a distinct roughly trainer. On the Laver Cup in September, the American global Deny. 15 Frances Tiafoe defined his partnership with pristine trainer David Witt, who previously labored with U.S. Noticeable finalist Jessica Pegula and ahead of that Maria Sakkari.
“I’m definitely a unique personality, especially in this sport, and someone needs to push me and hold me accountable but also make it fun for me,” Tiafoe stated in a information convention.
“I’m a guy where, if you come at me with a drill-sergeant-type mentality, I’m going to go the other way.”
“So much is about the chemistry,” Daniela Hantuchova, the previous global Deny 5 stated in a up to date telephone interview.
“I always felt that you could never tell how it would feel with a coach until you’d worked with them for a few months and you understood their personality, and how they work.
“He (Fissette) is a very impressive coach but just because it works for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. It’s very personal.”
When Swiatek fracture with trainer Tomasz Wiktorowski in early October, well-placed resources inside of ladies’s tennis tipped Fissette to exchange him, given his availability and Swiatek’s obvious willingness to tear up the method that gained her 4 out of her 5 Elegant Slams. Since profitable a 3rd consecutive French Noticeable in June, Swiatek’s performances and effects were patchy, and he or she’s spoken a couple of occasions of psychological and bodily exhaustion.
Later discussions and research along with her staff, Swiatek approached Fissette for talks which drew her to his fondness to be informed and form.
“Iga was keen on working with someone who is open-minded, a good leader but a team player at the same time,” a member of her staff instructed The Athletic.
“They both are very eager to constantly work on themselves, so they have a similar mindset. That’s why Iga believes they can get along well. His great experience with Grand Slam champions and other players who were ranked No 1 in the world was an additional advantage.”
‘Emotional intelligence’ is a word that sticks to Fissette, who combines it with an adoration for knowledge and statistics that is going the entire as far back as his first process as a trainer: serving to Clijsters win the 2009 U.S. Noticeable in most effective her 3rd event again next giving beginning to her daughter, Jada.
Wim Fissette (left) with Kim Clijsters next she gained the Miami Noticeable name in 2010. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Photographs)
John Dolan used to be Clijsters’ supervisor on the moment.
“Wim is an amazing coach. Very emotionally intelligent, and he can adapt his personality to the player he’s working with,” Dolan, a long-time WTA media liaison who’s now the top of media for the British Garden Tennis Affiliation, stated in an interview latter day.
“He was a very good listener, and doesn’t talk a lot like some people. When he does say something it carries real importance and over the last 15 years his coaching credentials speak for themselves.
“If you’re a player how can you not listen to him?”
Understanding when to push and when to tug again is a key talent of any trainer. Fissette is not any hype guy, so when he does in reality effort to encourage his gamers, the impact is larger. With Clijsters, at her first event again in Cincinnati, she got here to her trainer with doubts about whether or not she used to be in reality excellent plenty to compete. In an interview with Essentially Sports in 2018, Fissette stated he instructed Clijsters that “there’s really nobody that is able to beat you when you’re going to be at your best.”
Forward of her U.S. Noticeable semifinal towards Serena Williams, a participant Clijsters had most effective overwhelmed as soon as in 8 conferences prior, Fissette enthusiastic about no longer being worried and exploiting Williams’ weaknesses. Clijsters gained 6-4, 7-5 in a game overshadowed by way of Williams being given some degree penalty when i’m sick game level. Fissette had previous that season wager Clijsters that if she gained the event, he would shave his head. Each did their phase within the offer.
“It sounds obvious but he knows how to work with tennis players,” Dolan stated. “Some other coaches haven’t quite learned that reading the player is such a big part of it and a lot of coaches don’t have that. They focus too much on themselves.”
When Naomi Osaka started discussing who would trainer her on her go back to the excursion next giving beginning, reuniting with Fissette used to be the revealed selection. He didn’t say sure immediately.
He driven Osaka on how her comeback would paintings and why it will be other to earlier comebacks in 2021 and 2022 which ended upfront. After all, the second one version of Osaka-Fissette lasted just below a yr.
An professional on the WTA, who asked anonymity to give protection to relationships, defined Fissette’s directness.
“He’s absolutely not a cheerleader,” they stated.
“He’s very honest, and that is something some players aren’t used to all the time. He’ll say, ‘I have some ideas. If you’re open to that this is going to work — if you’re not going to be open to criticism, then it’s not.’”
“When you put in the effort, I make sure to praise it, while still being critical of errors,” Fissette writes on his web page.
“I’m always looking for ways to make you better than the day before. Be positive, be better.”
Fissette no doubt has a heartless streak. He joined up with Osaka in September 2023 having simply taken Zheng to her first Elegant Slam quarterfinal on the U.S. Noticeable. Zheng stated she used to be blindsided and sad; Fissette instructed The Athletic in January that he used to be getting to cancel training Zheng without reference to Osaka. He had not anything however celebrate for Zheng — “a super nice girl” who all the time labored brittle — however stated that they didn’t click on.
Wim Fissette (crouching) with Naomi Osaka in Los Angeles previous this yr. (Matt Futterman / The Athletic).
In a similar way, in 2018, Fissette fracture with Kerber in opposition to the tip of what were an excessively a hit yr and reunited with Azarenka in a while next. A terse commentary from Kerber on the moment learn: “Wim Fissette is — with immediate effect — exempted from his duties as coach of Angelique Kerber. In spite of the successful cooperation since the beginning of the season, this step is necessary due to differences of opinion regarding the future of the alignment.”
A yr previous, Fissette and Konta fracture, with the previous pronouncing in an interview with the Times of London: “It was a good match but not a perfect match. We are kind of different and we see things a little different.”
The fracture used to be amicable with the now de rigueur posts on social media praising each and every alternative; Konta used to be unavailable for interview for this piece when requested by way of The Athletic.
Fissette’s willingness to curtail a partnership that doesn’t paintings — which gamers will percentage — stands in obvious distinction to the intensity to which he’ll tailor his strategy to a participant’s wishes. He’s “very tour-friendly,” the WTA professional stated.
“He sees coaching as an art form. He understands how it works and really cares about what he does,” they added.
Fissette would get so frightened throughout Konta’s fits that he must move for a run afterwards to unwind.
In an interview with ESPN.com in 2018, Fissette evocative the spectrum on which his gamers would perceive their very own fits, with Azarenka’s need for massive quantities of knowledge contrasting to Kerber short of “two, three important things.”
This used to be partially a choice of fashion: Kerber’s at-times scarcely plausible talent to show protection into assault used to be reliant on wisdom of an opponent’s most well-liked attacking pictures and patterns, permitting her to be strategically proactive instead than simply reacting to the ball in entrance of her.
When he used to be training Konta, Fissette used to be extra prescriptive than ordinary. She appreciated sunlit messaging and so Fissette would have her recite the gameplan and a couple of key ideas to him and herself ahead of she went on court docket. However Konta used to be extra lighthearted ahead of fits than probably the most gamers he’d labored with, so Fissette lent into that too. “We all tell jokes. Everybody is different,” Fissette told the Press Association throughout Konta’s run to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017.
That is true of Fissette himself, who modelled his sport on counter-punching as a participant however has since made aggression one of the vital key tenets of his training. On easy methods to Kerber’s win at Wimbledon in 2018, he instructed her to up her aggression greater than ordinary in moments the place she would really feel pressured to be cover; he old a matching technique with Osaka when she got here inside of some degree of knocking Swiatek out of this yr’s French Noticeable.
“The way you think about tennis and play tennis trickles down into how you coach and how you play tennis,” Filip Dewulf stated in a telephone interview previous this day.
Dewulf, 52, is a former French Noticeable semifinalist and global Deny. 39; he used to be taking part in when Fissette used to be looking to put together it at the ATP Excursion. They were given to understand each and every alternative next and are living related each and every alternative in Belgium, from time to time assembly for a drink and a catch-up.
Wim Fissette and Angelique Kerber celebrating victory at Wimbledon in 2018. (Clive Mason / Getty Photographs)
“He’s very data-driven. Both about his own player but also the opponent. He is preparing himself really well every match, and every practice, looking at the numbers every day,” Dewulf stated.
Fissette would worth an iPad between units when training Kerber, and his worth of knowledge mixed with the emotional logic that Dewulf, like maximum folk interviewed for this text, cites as key to his good fortune leads to a force to beef up and form, however with an actual finish consequence. Growing however shedding isn’t Fissette’s function.
“We had three nice years, we won two slams, and it was really good. But I was, in some ways, disappointed,” he instructed The Athletic in January of his first stint with Osaka.
How those training philosophies will translate into Swiatek’s sport, mentality, and staff will spread over moment, however those that have labored with him trade in views on the place he suits into her manner of coming near tennis. Dewulf has labelled Fissette as a “good organizer” being able to analyze an current partnership from a got rid of point of view, appreciating its strengths week having a look into its weaknesses.
Konta and Azarenka labored with a psychological trainer and psychologist respectively week Fissette coached them; on the very get started in their first partnership in 2020, Osaka used to be in a lightless park. She had misplaced to Coco Gauff within the Australian Noticeable 3rd around because the protecting champion, and next misplaced her excellent buddy Kobe Bryant, who died in a while next. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in tennis being prohibited a few months nearest, however Osaka discovered the equilibrium to win that yr’s U.S. Noticeable in September 2020 and next the Australian Noticeable please see yr.
“If they have been the same way for a long time, he works out what the weakness are and he gets other people in to get a better team around them,” Dewulf stated.
This will probably be a fascinating sub-plot with Swiatek, who has a variety of longstanding staff participants together with psychologist Daria Abramowicz. Fissette has been identified to experiment: he and Osaka’s staff introduced in ballet dancer Simone Elliott to aid her beef up her motion.
Swiatek has stated that tactical and technical diversifications to her sport will come within the low season, with too modest moment between hiring Fissette and the Excursion Finals to enforce significant adjustments, however she has already mentioned what’s coming.
“I for sure want to improve my serve, as I’ve been doing for past years,” she stated in a information convention in Riyadh. “I think tactically there are many ways I could go and have more variety on court. Wim has some nice ideas.”
Swiatek has added extra velocity to her provide and abbreviated her movement in 2024, however fresh defeats were marked by way of an incapacity to switch the momentum of fits, too frequently looking to accident via combatants in the best way that generally wins her fits, in lieu of adjusting pace or including margin with topspin — one among her superb strengths — to earn an more straightforward ball again. This simplification of her sport, presented by way of Wiktorowski, introduced her superb good fortune and continues to take action; it nonetheless wishes an additional for when it isn’t reasonably running.
Fissette labored with Kerber and Azarenka broadly on their serves, and spent moment with Osaka looking to form an competitive open-stance backhand — a shot {that a} handful of gamers, together with Swiatek, can carry out reliably.
As Swiatek heads into protecting her WTA Excursion Finals name, Fissette’s typically fast begins might turn out a boon. Clijsters is essentially the most revealed instance however Konta gained Miami, the most important name of her profession, inside of a couple of months of running with him. Lisicki used to be a trauma Wimbledon finalist next a fair shorter moment running with Fissette, week Halep reached her first Elegant Slam quarterfinal in her first primary with Fissette, ahead of achieving the French Noticeable ultimate in her 2d.
This quick affect is one thing a couple of eyewitnesses have pointed to as a Fissette trademark.
In the long run, it’s Fissette’s report of good fortune that units him aside, says his training rival Mouratoglou, who gained 10 Elegant Slams with Serena Williams between 2012 and 2017. “I judge the quality of a coach on the results,” Mouratoglou stated from France by means of a Zoom interview this time.
“There are some guys who make results and some guys who don’t, and some who do it sometimes. It’s the same if you look at the football, there are a few coaches every time they take a team — success. Of course, they’re great teams, but with other coaches, they wouldn’t make that success.”
“I have a good relationship with him, he’s one of the guys that I’m always happy to see even though we are in competition,” Mouratoglou stated.
“I think we have very different personalities but it’s good that there are different options for the players.”
One undoubted merit is how in detail Fissette is aware of a variety of Swatek’s competitors from running with them. Training Osaka on the 2020 U.S. Noticeable ultimate, Fissette felt as regardless that he may are expecting each shot that Azarenka used to be getting to accident. He’ll now be capable of inform Swiatek exactly what her combatants will probably be expecting from her as a result of he used to be within the position of anticipator for Osaka only some months in the past.
Fissette’s experience at the WTA Excursion ends up in the inevitable query about why he hasn’t ever coached a male participant, however the resolution is that the chance hasn’t arise. He’s at leisure to doing so however his early good fortune with Clijsters resulted in process trade in at the ladies’s facet and that’s the way it’s been ever since. It’s brittle to consider he wouldn’t be a good fortune there, given what he’s accomplished in 15 years at the WTA facet.
It feels tricky to envisage a condition the place the partnering of 2 such elite practitioners gained’t equate to good fortune both within the medium time period or extra straight away, like a few of Fissette’s earlier partnerships. What makes tennis so thrilling isn’t reasonably realizing how issues will move — even supposing this appears like the nearest factor to a positive wager.
(Manage picture: Robert Prange / Getty Photographs)
