Recently, Qinwen Zheng accused her coach, Wim Fissette, of breaking their agreement to work with Naomi Osaka as a coach.
This summer, Zheng parted ways with Pere Riba and hired Wim Fissette. The Belgian coach has a history of coaching players to Grand Slam triumphs, including Kim Clijsters and, most recently, Naomi Osaka.
However, Fissette recently re-joined Osaka’s coaching staff as the Japanese prepared for her 2024 comeback to the tour after a long break due to childbirth, leaving Zheng in search of an alternative. Qinwen Zheng openly stated her displeasure with her coach’s decision and labeled it as extremely immoral, harming both her and her family.
Zheng stated her remarks about Fissette and said: “He broke the contract, and it is very immoral. This is his choice, and I will respect that. Even though this brings some harm to me and my family, I don’t want to talk about that person right now, don’t want to talk about him.”
She added: “During the US Open I knew he had contact with the team of Osaka. I cried after hearing his decision. I understand that Osaka can provide a better offer, and he has a family to support. I understand his decision, but it doesn’t mean I will forgive him.”
Qinwen Zheng in 2023
Now the world no.23, the Chinese played her last match on the 2nd of October when she was overcome by world no.5 Elena Rybakina 6-1 6-2 in the 1st
round in Beijing (draw).Presently, during this year Zheng has a compiled 29-18 win-loss record. Zheng clinched 1 title in Palermo.
Naomi Osaka in 2023
Ranked world no.661, the Japanese played her last match on the 20th of September 2022 when she had to retire when playing against world no.247 Daria Gavrilova in the 1st round and the scoreline was 1-0 .
This season the Japanese has achieved a compiled 14-9 match record.
Qinwen Zheng and Naomi Osaka faced off only on 1 occasion. Their current head to head is 1-0 for Osaka. When they played, Naomi Osaka won 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the 1st round in San Jose (Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic) in August 2022.
Here the video highlights.