Angelique Kerber surprisingly broke up with her coach Wim Fissette before the end of the season in Singapore (Sunday).
When Wim Fissette stood on the terrace of the international press centre on the evening of Angelique Kerber’s Wimbledon victory, he said a big sentence with great emphasis: “There is no tournament that Angie cannot win in the future. She doesn’t have to be afraid of anyone.”
Since Tuesday noon, however, it has been clear that Angelique Kerber can win anywhere in the travelling circus, even where she has not yet made it, such as at the French Open in Paris. But Fissette, the Belgian, will no longer be at her side.
Immediately before the WTA finals in Singapore, the unofficial Women’s Tennis World Cup (starting Sunday), Kerber put her 38-year-old coach outside the door. “This step was necessary because of differing views on the future direction,” it says in a somewhat screwed statement sent by Kerber’s manager Aljoscha Thron.
Behind the official message, however, there was an unmistakable message, barely concealed: it can no longer go on. Not a step. From now on. From Kerber’s extended environment it was said that it was no longer conceivable to once again compete together in Singapore for the sake of pure optic: “One had to make a clean sweep.
The relationship had been strained for “some time.” It was also said that one now knew why Fissette had to take his hat off again quickly with other employers.
In fact, the name Fissette stands for rapid and even spectacular successes, in the case of Kerber even for their long-awaited Wimbledon coup, but also for the rapid termination of his services. Apart from the early cooperation with his compatriot Kim Clijsters, Fissette’s alliances in women’s tennis never lasted longer than a year and a half – whether with Johanna Konta, Victoria Asarenka, Sara Errani or Sabine Lisicki.
Kerber’s final stroke shows astonishing parallels to Lisicki’s case: After reaching the Wimbledon final in 2013, the Berlin player terminated her contract with the Belgian later this season. Even then, the fireman’s fissette had gone, which can clear up crisis situations, but is not for long distance.
Perhaps also because of his sometimes over-indulgent self-confidence, which collided with the strong ego of his bosses. At Kerber Fissette had started in the season break between 2017 and 2018, the duo competed the first common training units at the end of November/beginning of December in Kerber’s Polish domicile Puczszykowo.
Kerber, in any case, took the plane to Singapore on Monday alone, where she wants to play as good a role as possible in the season finale of the eight best players. The 30-year-old had found it difficult to return to the sometimes grey touring life after Wimbledon, and it often seemed as if the Kielerin could not really motivate herself after the conceivably greatest moment of success in the dream summer of Wimbledon.
In the press release, it is relatively cool to note that Fissette contributed to the achievement of the season’s goals; besides Wimbledon, this was the jump to the top 3 of the world rankings. However, Fissette failed in the challenging task of finding a ground again together with Kerber after the high flight from London.
A new head will have to cope with it now. According to Manager Thron, a successor should only be sought after the World Cup in far-away Singapore.