By Nick McCarvel | Wednesday, November 26, 2014

 

We now know who Simona Halep’s new coach will be, but what of Wim?

Photo Source/Ilya S. Savenok/Getty

When Simona Halep announced on her Facebook page earlier this month that she and coach Wim Fissette would stop working together, the question was: Who will the world No. 3 and Roland Garros runner-up sign on next?

Also Read: After Split With Fissette, Halep Hires New Coach, Advisor

Monday the Romanian revealed that would be fellow Romanian Victor Ioniță, a coach who had previously worked with compatriot Sorana Cirstea. In addition, Thomas Hogstedt, the famed former coach of Maria Sharapova (and others), will serve as a consultant for the beginning of the 2015 season.

But what of Wim? Wim Fissette, that is, Halep’s now-ex coach who has made a name for himself in tennis circles, having helped fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters in her comeback before working with Sabine Lisicki and then Halep. In 2014, Halep brought on Fissette to help her achieve a career-high No. 2 ranking as well as reach the final of Roland Garros and win two titles (Doha, Bucharest).

Halep’s move to split with Fissette came as a surprise to many. Here, Fissette opens up in an exclusive interview on how he felt the year went, what his plans are moving forward and more:

TennisNow: Wim, thanks for speaking with us. Tell us what's next for you? Have you made plans for moving forward or are you taking some time off?
Wim Fissette: At this moment I'm waiting to make the right decision for my future. There are a few players I would really love to work with and I'm hoping to get a good offer from them. When I'm at home [in Belgium] I coach in an academy nearby. We have many great young players under 12 years old (including three Belgian champions) and I love coaching them.

TennisNow: What are you most proud of in the last year of working with Simona? She obviously had great achievements, what stands out from behind the scenes?
Fissette: By far the final in Roland Garros. When we started in January after the Australian Open, Simona told me it was very difficult to handle the emotions during a Grand Slam and when she reached the quarterfinal in Australia, she could not at all control her emotions. My goal was to make her a better player, but especially make her play her best tennis on the most important moments.

When she came to Paris, she was considered an outsider for the title and she felt pressure for the first time. Every match she won, the pressure became more. But she was able to control her emotions and play her best tennis from the first ball of the tournament until the last one in the final.

TennisNow: What were the challenges with Simona? You came in at a time when she was already on the rise.
Fissette: I did not speak to Simona about the past coaches. I was just trying to do my job as good as possible. For Simona it was a completely new experience, as she only worked with Romanian coaches in the past. For sure it was not always an easy relationship between player and coach. You spend a lot of time together and one very important thing is that the player feels very comfortable also off court. For example, it's much easier when you can always speak your own language.

TennisNow: Were there frustrations at the end? Or this was more just a decision of Simona (and/or you) to go in a different direction?
Fissette: I didn't feel frustrations at the end. As a coach you receive contracts of six to 12 months. (At first, I had a contract through Roland Garros and then one that continued until after Singapore.) You never know what will happen when the contract finishes. So I just tried to give my very best until the end of my contract.

Simona made this decision because she feels more comfortable with only Romanians in her team. She is a girl who needs a lot of variation. That's why, for example, every tournament there were some family members to “entertain” her. Some weeks it was her mother, some weeks her brother, some weeks some family friends… so she would not be bored. She likes people around her and she also needs that.

I believe it will be difficult for her to work longer than one year with a coach because she needs that variation [in her life]. Other way of thinking, other way of working…

TennisNow: Who are two players who you have your eye on for a big year in 2015? Perhaps a couple of names we might not expect?
Fissette: Garbine Muguruza: I think she has a very big game and I believe she can make it to the top 10 next year. In general, I feel there is a change of generation happening right now in women's tennis and I'm looking forward to see who of these young girls will make it to the absolute top.

David Goffin: As a Belgian myself, I'm very interested how his 2015 will be. He started to win in July and he kept winning until the end of the year. He is a great player to watch, nice technique, variation and smart… it’s not only power tennis. He has almost no points to defend the first half of the year so I'm very curious where he will be after Wimbledon this year.

TennisNow: What do you think is most exciting about women's tennis right now?
Fissette: As I mentioned before, [I’m excited for] the change of generations. Players like Halep, Genie Bouchard, Muguruza, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, [Belinda] Bencic, Caroline Garcia, Ana Konjuh… I think in 2015 these players will surprise some bigger names and it will be interesting what other names will come up in the rankings. There are very important times coming for women's tennis. At this moment most of the tickets at the tournament are sold to see top players like Serena and Maria, the older generation. It's time now that the new generation will step up. As a coach I'm always looking forward to where women's tennis is going. Is it going more and more to men’s tennis (more topspin, big serves, kick serve)?

TennisNow: What are you most looking forward to about your time off? Just relaxing?
Fissette: Being home and with my family. On the other side, I love tennis so after being a week home doing nothing, I'll go to the academy and help coach the younger kids. This is just so much fun, these children are so “hungry” to learn and they have so much fun playing their favorite sport. Hopefully I can travel with one of these in about 10 years…