Naomi Osaka has recently announced that she hired Wim Fissette as her new coach. The Belgian is the 4th coach to side with Naomi in 2019. The Japanese started the year with Sascha Bajin before parting ways with the German for “obscure reasons” soon after she won her back to back slam at the Australian Open.
Later, Naomi had a not so great period when siding with Jermaine Jenkins to decide to split with the American soon after she was unable to defend her US Open title. Naomi was briefly coached by her father with great results as they won together back to back the tournaments in Osaka and Beijing.
However, Naomi has always stated that that would have been a temporary arrangement until they find a new coach whose task would have been bringing the former world no.1 to new heights.
Therefore, the choice went on Wim Fissette that has an impressive pedigree as he worked already with the likes of Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki, Angelique Kerber, and Vika Azarenka. Fissette won 3 slams with Kim Clijsters and 1 with Angelique Kerber.
The Belgian was working with Vika Azarenka when he was contacted by Naomi’s team. During a recent interview with RTL Sport, Fissette revealed:
“Yes, that’s right. I’m the new coach from Osaka. I arrived in Los Angeles at the beginning of December, where I was introduced to its large group of sponsors. Then we got to work.
I had been contacted by his entourage a few weeks ago when I was still with Azarenka. Her manager wanted to know my plans. I spoke directly to Vika and seeing that her future was very uncertain, she will not play in Australia due to private problems, I accepted. ”
Naomi Osaka’s ranking and performance in 2019
Now ranked no.3, Osaka played her last match on the 27th of October when she defeated Petra Kvitova 7-61 4-6 6-4 in the round robin in Shenzhen.
In this year the Japanese has a 40-11 win-loss record. Naomi conquered 3 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Osaka and in Beijing.
Victoria Azarenka’s ranking and performance in 2019
Currently the world no.50, Azarenka played her last match on the 27th of August when she capitulated to Aryna Sabalenka 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the 1st round in U.S. Open.
Victoria Azarenka’s most significant performance of the current year was reaching the final in Monterrey.
Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka played each other 3 times. The head to head is 2-1 for Osaka.
The last time that they played, Naomi Osaka won 4-6 7-5 6-3 in the 2nd round in Paris (French Open) on the 30th of May 2019.
