Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka needs to find a new coach.
Posted yesterday at 7:24 p.m.
Wim Fissette, who started working with Osaka shortly before the start of the 2020 season, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday that he and Osaka have ended their collaboration.
“It’s been a privilege coaching Naomi since 2019 and watching her grow into the champion that she is,” Fissette said. She transmitted the passion for the sport to a new generation and convinced them to speak out about what [cette génération] believes. It was incredible to have had a role to play in this epic. »
He also thanked Osaka and ended his post by mentioning, “I only wish you the best and I can’t wait to start my next chapter.”
Fissette coached Osaka in winning two of his four Grand Slam titles – at the US Open in 2020 and then at the Australian Open in 2021.
He previously worked with players such as Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber. These four players, like Osaka, have won major titles and spent time atop the WTA rankings.
Osaka, who moved to the United States with her family as a child, occupies 38e world level after having missed a good part of the last season and the current one.
Osaka pulled out of the French Open in 2021 ahead of their second-round match to take a mental health break. The 24-year-old was also absent for the 2021 edition of Wimbledon.
After returning to action at the Tokyo Olympics, where she lit the Olympic cauldron in the opening ceremony, she then competed at the US Open. Another break followed.
She struggled with a left Achilles tendon injury this season, and after a first-round elimination at Roland Garros, Osaka missed Wimbledon again and hasn’t played since.
The last Grand Slam tournament of the season, the United States Open, begins on August 29 in New York.
In February 2019, shortly after winning the Australian Open trophy that added the 2018 US Open trophy to her roster, Osaka parted ways with coach Sascha Bajin. He helped her for these two triumphs.
Osaka was then briefly coached by Jermaine Jenkins, who was replaced by Osaka’s father, Leonard Francois, before Fissette took over the reins.