What occurs if you pair the perfect participant on the WTA Tour with one among its most embellished coaches?
That was the query in October, when then world No. 1 Iga Swiatek introduced on Wim Fissette as her head coach. Fissette, a cerebral 44-year-old from Belgium, is broadly thought of one of many high coaches on the ladies’s tour after reaching a lot success with such a variety of gamers.
Fissette, who by no means cracked the highest 1,000 as a participant within the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, has excelled as a coach ever since his first job with compatriot Kim Clijsters. At 29, he coached Clijsters when she received the 2009 U.S. Open having solely simply returned from maternity depart, and was in her nook for 3 main titles in complete.
He has since coached an all-star record of gamers, taking in Sabine Lisicki, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka (twice), Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, Johanna Konta, Angelique Kerber, Zheng Qinwen and most not too long ago Naomi Osaka. Fissette and Osaka cut up in September when she changed him with the opposite most celebrated coach on the WTA Tour, Patrick Mouratoglou.
Below Fissette’s steering, Osaka received the 2020 U.S. Open and 2021 Australian Open, taking his Grand Slam complete as a coach to 6 after Kerber’s Wimbledon win of 2018. He additionally took each Lisicki (2013 Wimbledon) and Halep (2014 French Open) to their first Grand Slam finals. In 2017, he helped Konta win the WTA 1000 Miami Open and attain the Wimbledon semifinals for the primary time, reaching a career-high rating of No. 4.
His first match with Swiatek sees him tasked with defending a title and serving to to orchestrate a potential return to the highest of the world rankings after she relinquished the No. 1 slot to Aryna Sabalenka having dropped factors for lacking necessary tournaments. She opens her WTA Tour Finals marketing campaign in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in opposition to Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, in a round-robin group additionally containing Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the latter of whom Swiatek thrashed to win final 12 months’s occasion in Cancun, Mexico.
Regardless of his popularity and glittering CV, Fissette has remained largely nameless, in one among few sports activities the place it’s potential for an elite coach to maintain a low media profile. It’s gamers who conduct post-match interviews and press conferences, not like soccer wherein, whereas gamers will converse, it’s the supervisor’s opinion and emotions which can be wanted each win, draw, or defeat.
Wim Fissette and Iga Swiatek’s first occasion collectively is the WTA Tour Finals. (Robert Prange / Getty Photos)
Talking to those that have labored with Fissette and seen him function up shut, in addition to sources near Swiatek, a few of whom have spoken anonymously to guard relationships, The Athletic has taken a deeper have a look at how the Belgian operates to know one of the crucial thrilling teaching partnerships in latest reminiscence because it strikes from the observe courts to a stadium for the primary time.
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There’s an alchemy within the coach-player relationship that makes it not at all times really easy to foretell, even with somebody as skilled and adaptable as Fissette. Gamers steadily speak about their partnership with a coach in romantic phrases, making the purpose that generally you click on with somebody, generally you don’t.
And each participant wants a special sort of coach. On the Laver Cup in September, the American world No. 15 Frances Tiafoe defined his partnership with new coach David Witt, who previously labored with U.S. Open finalist Jessica Pegula and earlier than that Maria Sakkari.
“I’m undoubtedly a singular character, particularly on this sport, and somebody must push me and maintain me accountable but additionally make it enjoyable for me,” Tiafoe mentioned in a information convention.
“I’m a man the place, for those who come at me with a drill-sergeant-type mentality, I’m going to go the opposite method.”
“A lot is concerning the chemistry,” Daniela Hantuchova, the previous world No 5 mentioned in a latest telephone interview.
“I at all times felt that you would by no means inform how it will really feel with a coach till you’d labored with them for just a few months and also you understood their character, and the way they work.
“He (Fissette) is a really spectacular coach however simply because it really works for another person doesn’t imply it’s going to give you the results you want. It’s very private.”
When Swiatek cut up with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski in early October, well-placed sources inside girls’s tennis tipped Fissette to interchange him, given his availability and Swiatek’s obvious willingness to tear up the components that received her 4 out of her 5 Grand Slams. Since profitable a 3rd consecutive French Open in June, Swiatek’s performances and outcomes have been patchy, and she or he’s spoken just a few instances of psychological and bodily exhaustion.
After discussions and evaluation together with her crew, Swiatek approached Fissette for talks which drew her to his keenness to be taught and develop.
“Iga was eager on working with somebody who’s open-minded, a very good chief however a crew participant on the similar time,” a member of her crew informed The Athletic.
“They each are very wanting to always work on themselves, so that they have an analogous mindset. That’s why Iga believes they’ll get alongside effectively. His nice expertise with Grand Slam champions and different gamers who have been ranked No 1 on this planet was an extra benefit.”
‘Emotional intelligence’ is a phrase that sticks to Fissette, who combines it with an appreciation for knowledge and statistics that goes all the way in which again to his first job as a coach: serving to Clijsters win the 2009 U.S. Open in solely her third match again after giving beginning to her daughter, Jada.
Wim Fissette (left) with Kim Clijsters after she received the Miami Open title in 2010. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Photos)
John Dolan was Clijsters’ supervisor on the time.
“Wim is an incredible coach. Very emotionally clever, and he can adapt his character to the participant he’s working with,” Dolan, a long-time WTA media liaison who’s now the pinnacle of media for the British Garden Tennis Affiliation, mentioned in an interview final month.
“He was an excellent listener, and doesn’t discuss lots like some individuals. When he does say one thing it carries actual significance and over the past 15 years his teaching credentials converse for themselves.
“For those who’re a participant how are you going to not hearken to him?”
Understanding when to push and when to tug again is a key talent of any coach. Fissette is not any hype man, so when he does actually attempt to encourage his gamers, the impact is larger. With Clijsters, at her first match again in Cincinnati, she got here to her coach with doubts about whether or not she was actually adequate to compete. In an interview with Primarily Sports activities in 2018, Fissette mentioned he informed Clijsters that “there’s actually no one that is ready to beat you if you’re going to be at your greatest.”
Forward of her U.S. Open semifinal in opposition to Serena Williams, a participant Clijsters had solely overwhelmed as soon as in eight conferences prior, Fissette centered on not worrying and exploiting Williams’ weaknesses. Clijsters received 6-4, 7-5 in a match overshadowed by Williams being given some extent penalty when down match level. Fissette had earlier that season guess Clijsters that if she received the match, he would shave his head. Each did their half within the deal.
“It sounds apparent however he is aware of work with tennis gamers,” Dolan mentioned. “Another coaches haven’t fairly realized that studying the participant is such an enormous a part of it and loads of coaches don’t have that. They focus an excessive amount of on themselves.”
When Naomi Osaka started discussing who would coach her on her return to the tour after giving beginning, reuniting with Fissette was the apparent alternative. He didn’t say sure right away.
He pushed Osaka on how her comeback would work and why it will be completely different to earlier comebacks in 2021 and 2022 which ended prematurely. In the long run, the second version of Osaka-Fissette lasted slightly below a 12 months.
An official on the WTA, who requested anonymity to guard relationships, outlined Fissette’s directness.
“He’s completely not a cheerleader,” they mentioned.
“He’s very trustworthy, and that’s one thing some gamers aren’t used to on a regular basis. He’ll say, ‘I’ve some concepts. For those who’re open to that that is going to work — for those who’re not going to be open to criticism, then it’s not.’”
“Whenever you put within the effort, I be sure to reward it, whereas nonetheless being crucial of errors,” Fissette writes on his web site.
“I’m at all times on the lookout for methods to make you higher than the day earlier than. Be optimistic, be higher.”
Fissette undoubtedly has a ruthless streak. He joined up with Osaka in September 2023 having simply taken Zheng to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal on the U.S. Open. Zheng mentioned she was blindsided and heartbroken; Fissette informed The Athletic in January that he was going to cease teaching Zheng no matter Osaka. He had nothing however reward for Zheng — “a brilliant good woman” who at all times labored arduous — however mentioned that they didn’t click on.
Wim Fissette (crouching) with Naomi Osaka in Los Angeles earlier this 12 months. (Matt Futterman / The Athletic).
Equally, in 2018, Fissette cut up with Kerber in direction of the top of what had been a really profitable 12 months and reunited with Azarenka shortly after. A terse assertion from Kerber on the time learn: “Wim Fissette is — with quick impact — exempted from his duties as coach of Angelique Kerber. Regardless of the profitable cooperation for the reason that starting of the season, this step is critical as a result of variations of opinion relating to the way forward for the alignment.”
A 12 months earlier, Fissette and Konta cut up, with the previous saying in an interview with the Occasions of London: “It was a very good match however not an ideal match. We’re sort of completely different and we see issues a bit completely different.”
The cut up was amicable with the now de rigueur posts on social media praising one another; Konta was unavailable for interview for this piece when requested by The Athletic.
Fissette’s willingness to curtail a partnership that doesn’t work — which gamers will share — stands in obvious distinction to the depth to which he’ll tailor his method to a participant’s wants. He’s “very tour-friendly,” the WTA official mentioned.
“He sees teaching as an artwork kind. He understands the way it works and actually cares about what he does,” they added.
Fissette would get so nervous throughout Konta’s matches that he must go for a run afterwards to unwind.
In an interview with ESPN.com in 2018, Fissette detailed the spectrum on which his gamers would perceive their very own matches, with Azarenka’s need for big quantities of knowledge contrasting to Kerber wanting “two, three essential issues.”
This was partly a dedication of fashion: Kerber’s at-times scarcely plausible capacity to show protection into assault was reliant on data of an opponent’s most popular attacking pictures and patterns, permitting her to be strategically proactive fairly than merely reacting to the ball in entrance of her.
When he was teaching Konta, Fissette was extra prescriptive than standard. She appreciated clear messaging and so Fissette would have her recite the gameplan and some key ideas to him and herself earlier than she went on courtroom. However Konta was extra lighthearted earlier than matches than among the gamers he’d labored with, so Fissette lent into that too. “All of us inform jokes. Everyone is completely different,” Fissette informed the Press Affiliation throughout Konta’s run to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017.
That is true of Fissette himself, who modelled his recreation on counter-punching as a participant however has since made aggression one of many key tenets of his teaching. On the way in which to Kerber’s win at Wimbledon in 2018, he informed her to up her aggression greater than standard in moments the place she would really feel compelled to be secure; he used an analogous technique with Osaka when she got here inside some extent of knocking Swiatek out of this 12 months’s French Open.
“The way in which you concentrate on tennis and play tennis trickles down into the way you coach and the way you play tennis,” Filip Dewulf mentioned in a telephone interview earlier this month.
Dewulf, 52, is a former French Open semifinalist and world No. 39; he was taking part in when Fissette was attempting to make it on the ATP Tour. They received to know one another then and dwell close to one another in Belgium, generally assembly for a drink and a catch-up.
Wim Fissette and Angelique Kerber celebrating victory at Wimbledon in 2018. (Clive Mason / Getty Photos)
“He’s very data-driven. Each about his personal participant but additionally the opponent. He’s getting ready himself very well each match, and each observe, wanting on the numbers daily,” Dewulf mentioned.
Fissette would use an iPad between units when teaching Kerber, and his use of knowledge mixed with the emotional intelligence that Dewulf, like most individuals interviewed for this text, cites as key to his success leads to a drive to enhance and develop, however with an actual finish end result. Growing however dropping just isn’t Fissette’s objective.
“We had three good years, we received two slams, and it was actually good. However I used to be, in some methods, upset,” he informed The Athletic in January of his first stint with Osaka.
How these teaching philosophies will translate into Swiatek’s recreation, mentality, and crew will unfold over time, however those that have labored with him supply views on the place he suits into her method of approaching tennis. Dewulf has labelled Fissette as a “good organizer” with the flexibility to research an present partnership from a eliminated perspective, appreciating its strengths whereas wanting into its weaknesses.
Konta and Azarenka labored with a psychological coach and psychologist respectively whereas Fissette coached them; on the very begin of their first partnership in 2020, Osaka was in a darkish place. She had misplaced to Coco Gauff within the Australian Open third spherical because the defending champion, after which misplaced her good pal Kobe Bryant, who died shortly after. The COVID-19 pandemic led to tennis being stopped a few months later, however Osaka discovered the equilibrium to win that 12 months’s U.S. Open in September 2020 after which the Australian Open the next 12 months.
“If they’ve been the identical method for a very long time, he works out what the weak spot are and he will get different individuals in to get a greater crew round them,” Dewulf mentioned.
This shall be an fascinating sub-plot with Swiatek, who has various longstanding crew members together with psychologist Daria Abramowicz. Fissette has been recognized to experiment: he and Osaka’s crew introduced in ballet dancer Simone Elliott to assist her enhance her motion.
Swiatek has mentioned that tactical and technical diversifications to her recreation will come within the low season, with too little time between hiring Fissette and the Tour Finals to implement significant modifications, however she has already mentioned what’s coming.
“I for certain wish to enhance my serve, as I’ve been doing for previous years,” she mentioned in a information convention in Riyadh. “I believe tactically there are lots of methods I might go and have extra selection on courtroom. Wim has some good concepts.”
Swiatek has added extra pace to her serve and abbreviated her movement in 2024, however latest defeats have been marked by an lack of ability to alter the momentum of matches, too typically attempting to hit by way of opponents in the way in which that normally wins her matches, as an alternative of fixing tempo or including margin with topspin — one among her nice strengths — to earn a better ball again. This simplification of her recreation, launched by Wiktorowski, introduced her nice success and continues to take action; it nonetheless wants an alternate for when it isn’t fairly working.
Fissette labored with Kerber and Azarenka extensively on their serves, and frolicked with Osaka attempting to develop an aggressive open-stance backhand — a shot {that a} handful of gamers, together with Swiatek, can carry out reliably.
As Swiatek heads into defending her WTA Tour Finals title, Fissette’s usually fast begins might show a boon. Clijsters is the obvious instance however Konta received Miami, the largest title of her profession, inside just a few months of working with him. Lisicki was a shock Wimbledon finalist after an excellent shorter time working with Fissette, whereas Halep reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in her first main with Fissette, earlier than reaching the French Open last in her second.
This immediate influence is one thing just a few observers have pointed to as a Fissette trademark.
In the end, it’s Fissette’s file of success that units him aside, says his teaching rival Mouratoglou, who received 10 Grand Slams with Serena Williams between 2012 and 2017. “I choose the standard of a coach on the outcomes,” Mouratoglou mentioned from France by way of a Zoom interview this week.
“There are some guys who make outcomes and a few guys who don’t, and a few who do it generally. It’s the identical for those who have a look at the soccer, there are just a few coaches each time they take a crew — success. After all, they’re nice groups, however with different coaches, they wouldn’t make that success.”
“I’ve a very good relationship with him, he’s one of many guys that I’m at all times comfortable to see regardless that we’re in competitors,” Mouratoglou mentioned.
“I believe we have now very completely different personalities however it’s good that there are completely different choices for the gamers.”
One undoubted benefit is how intimately Fissette is aware of various Swatek’s rivals from working with them. Teaching Osaka on the 2020 U.S. Open last, Fissette felt as if he might predict each shot that Azarenka was going to hit. He’ll now have the ability to inform Swiatek exactly what her opponents shall be anticipating from her as a result of he was within the position of anticipator for Osaka just a few months in the past.
Fissette’s experience on the WTA Tour results in the inevitable query about why he has by no means coached a male participant, however the reply is that the chance hasn’t come up. He’s open to doing so however his early success with Clijsters led to job provides on the ladies’s facet and that’s the way it’s been ever since. It’s arduous to think about he wouldn’t be successful there, given what he’s achieved in 15 years on the WTA facet.
It feels troublesome to envisage a state of affairs the place the partnering of two such elite practitioners received’t equate to success both within the medium time period or extra instantly, like a few of Fissette’s earlier partnerships. What makes tennis so thrilling just isn’t fairly figuring out how issues will go — even when this feels just like the closest factor to a certain guess.
(High picture: Robert Prange / Getty Photos)