Kerber reaping dividends from fruitful collaboration with coach Fissette

IT may have been exactly what the home fans hoped for – Belgian coach Wim Fissette holding his arms aloft as his client lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish – it just came 12 months too late.

Last year, Fissette guided Johanna Konta to the Wimbledon semi-finals. But, at the end of the season, Konta made the curious decision to cancel her collaboration with Fissette, even though it had carried her to a high point of No 4 in the world.

Konta’s discard has since become Angelique Kerber’s ace in the pack.

Fissette joined the new Wimbledon champion in the off-season and, after January’s Australian Open, his present and former clients passed each other in opposite directions in the world rankings like figures on a town clock.

Week by week, the gap is growing wider. Konta will stand at No 50 in today’s new chart, her lowest position since September 2015. Meanwhile, Kerber (left), who began this year just outside the top 20, will climb back up to No 4 on the back of her magnificent surprise win over Serena Williams.

On Saturday night, the German was asked for more details about the work she has done with Fissette.

“When we started I said to him that I would really like to change my serve,” Kerber said.

“I knew I had to improve it, especially in the big matches where I wasn’t serving really well. So we changed the technique a little bit and also made the second serve a little more confident.”

Fissette does not maintain as high a media profile as Patrick Mouratoglou, his opposite number on Saturda,y as he is known as one of the quiet achievers of the coaching pack. Having started out as Kim Clijsters’s hitting partner, he guided her comeback after the birth of her daughter, Jada, which delivered three hard-court slams.

He then helped Germany’s big-serving Sabine Lisicki overachieve, with a run to the Wimbledon final in 2013, and served stints with the current world No 1, Simona Halep, and the former world No 1, Victoria Azarenka.

As for Kerber’s serve, the fruits were there on Saturday as she averaged 97mph on her first delivery, 5mph more than she managed while losing to Williams in the 2016 final here. Also, 29 per cent of her serves did not come back, a significant improvement on

18 per cent two years ago.

“I was here last year with Jo in the semi-final,” said the ever-tactful Fissette on Saturday evening. “I’m lucky I can work with top players like Angelique and like Jo last year. With every player you have a different goal.

“I knew it was more difficult to win the French than Wimbledon. I knew I was going to have more of a chance winning Wimbledon with Angie. Of course it’s huge satisfaction after all the work we put in. You start with a plan, you believe in that plan and you put the right people together. It’s a huge team effort.”

Fissette was also asked about his players’ strong head-to-head record against Williams, which now stands at five wins from 10 attempts. “It’s something I am very proud of against the best player in the world,” he said. “With five different players, they have beaten her.

“I try in different ways to show some videos focusing on the strengths of my players, so that they are convinced with their plan that they can do it.

“But I was also fortunate to work with some of the best players in the world. We know how tough it is to beat Serena.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)