Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has parted ways with coach Wim Fissette, with whom she won the 2020 U.S. Open and 2021 Australian Open.
The former world No. 1 announced the split in an Instagram Story on Friday.
“Four years, two Slams and a whole lot of memories,” she said. “Thanks Wim for being a great coach and even better person, wishing you all the best.”
On the same day, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) professor Marco Iacoboni posted a photo of Osaka in practice with Patrick Mouratoglou, former coach of Serena Williams, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Mouratoglou most recently coached world No. 14 Holger Rune.
A report in Open Court names Mouratoglou as Osaka’s formal new coach, but neither has yet confirmed the partnership.
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Fissette issued a statement of his own, saying on Instagram: “We were very close to a breakthrough. When you do the right things and keep hearing from peers you are in the right direction, it’s tough not quite getting it yet. As the coach, you keep trusting the process, knowing the lessons are getting you closer to the trophies.
“After the U.S. Open, Naomi decided to move forward with a new path. I accepted it knowing we close this second run with more good memories and gratitude for building her way back.”
Fissette, the former coach of Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, and Victoria Azarenka — all Grand Slam champions and former world No. 1 players — also suggested that he was looking forward to finding a new player.
Osaka and Fissette first teamed up during the 2019 off-season, a partnership that lasted until summer 2022. During that period, the 26-year-old Osaka won consecutive Grand Slam titles in New York and Melbourne. However, she withdrew from the 2021 French Open, saying in a statement announcing her decision that she had “suffered long bouts of depression since the U.S. Open in 2018”.
Osaka then went on hiatus from tennis after that year’s U.S. Open, in which she lost to eventual runner-up Leylah Fernandez in the third round.
“Recently, when I win, I don’t feel happy,” she said in a press conference after that defeat. “I feel more like a relief. When I lose, I feel very sad and I don’t think that’s normal.”
Osaka and Fissette reunited in the summer of 2023, as she prepared for a return to tennis after the birth of her daughter, Shai. Fissette split with the now Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen before returning to Osaka’s team, leaving Zheng blindsided. “He broke the contract and it is very immoral,” she told reporters at the 2023 Asian Games. Fissette told The Athletic in January 2024 that his split with Zheng would have happened with or without Osaka’s return.
Since her 2024 comeback, Osaka has gradually shifted her tone when discussing the link between results and direction of travel. The first half of the season included some promising results, including a thrilling French Open clash with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, which she ultimately lost 7-6 (1), 1-6, 7-5. After that defeat, Osaka said in a press conference that “obviously the results aren’t resulting right now, but I think I’m growing every tournament. I’m just trying to apply myself.”
The message from Osaka and her team was to judge her on hard courts, where she has historically thrived and claimed all four of her major titles, rather than on clay or grass, where she has improved but never been entirely at home. But after an unexpected loss in the Cincinnati qualifiers to American Ashlyn Krueger, Osaka said on social media that she did not feel like she was in her body, and likened her discomfort to what she had felt immediately postpartum.
After thrashing No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko at the U.S. Open, before losing to eventual semifinalist Karolina Muchova, Osaka said that “my heart dies every time I lose.” Despite being one of the biggest draws in New York even as a wildcard, she admitted that results just aren’t coming together. Having been initially indifferent about how her progress related to wins and losses, the former world No. 1 now seems to be hoping for a change that will restore her successful form.
(Top photo: Robert Prange / Getty Images)
