“My heart dies every time I lose” – Naomi Osaka has played 34 matches so far this season but has won just 18 out of them. She’s yet to win a title in this season. That’s something quite surprising for a player who has won 4 Grand Slam titles in her career. Recently, she faced an early exit from the US Open at the hands of Karolina Muchova (CZE). Despite all her valiant efforts, she ended up on the losing side again this year. Osaka was frustrated and had to take a bold call to pull things back on track for the rest of the season. Result? She announced her split from her long-time coach Wim Fissette! Rennae Stubbs now has a word or two to say about this split.

Wim Fissette has worked with Naomi Osaka from 2020-2022. During that time, Osaka stated, “It was really good times with Wim and he’s a really amazing coach. We didn’t part on bad terms. I just felt I needed different energy, and at the same time, he’s a very ambitious guy.” After that, the 44-year-old Belgian coach joined, Zheng Qinwen’s team to coach the Chinese star briefly. Later on, when Osaka yet again called him to join her team, he literally “broke the contract” with Qinwen. This left the Chinese furious, and she even called this act to be “very immoral.“

Now after seeing, Naomi Osaka yet again calling an end to her partnership with Fisette, fans have started to call it “karma“, but what does WTA coach, Rennae Stubbs say on this? During ‘The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast’, the Aussie coach was heard saying, “He (Wim Fissette) likes the money. Like, that’s a lot of the I know for a fact. You know, some of the things that got him fired from other jobs was that he wanted more money. And so I just wonder if her not getting deep into tournaments and winning tournaments, because as a coach, you get bonuses.”

Serena Williams’ former coach, Stubbs previously accused Brad Gilbert of Coco Gauff’s poor performances and now perhaps it’s time for her to aim the Belgian! The 53-year-old year went on to add, “So there are some coaches, and I get asked this question quite a bit. Like, how much do coaches make? What’s the normal rate? Blah, blah, blah. And some coaches are daily, literally daily. Some are weekly. Some are on a retainer for an entire year.” Clearly, she wasn’t too pleased with Fisette’s role in Osaka’s team either.

However, during his tenure, we must not forget that Naomi Osaka won two Grand Slam titles (2020 US Open & 2021 AO). Osaka even mentioned his enormous contributions to her career during her announcement. She wrote, “4 years, 2 Slams, and a whole lot of memories.” She wished her all the best for his future endeavors and went on to hail him as a great coach and even a greater person. What did Fissette say though after this spilt and who could possibly replace him in Osaka’s team?

Wim Fissette’s first reaction after his split with Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka is currently ranked 76th in the world. Next up for the 26-year-old Japanese star is likely the China Open, where she is eager to make a comeback and claim a title before wrapping up her 2024 season. Following her recent split, several names have emerged as potential replacements for her coaching team. We saw Stubbs coming up with a cryptic post on her X handle. She wrote, “Taylor Swift song ‘if I was a man’ song is just hitting me today. The tennis coaching world is hilarious.”

Some others shared their opinions too! However, according to Fissette, it was “truly a pleasure” to work with someone like Naomi Osaka. He said he’s happy to be proud of her comeback journey and to see her grow as a person, and athlete and now as a mother as well. “A champion in many ways. We started from zero and developed week by week. In 15 years on tour, this was one of my best years working together with amazing people. From every defeat, we worked harder and better and grew a lot. We were very close to a breakthrough…“

Shortly after that, a new name emerged as a potential replacement for the Belgian coach, and guess who? It’s none other than Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. Naomi Osaka was spotted practicing with the Frenchman after announcing her split from Fissette. Now, it will be interesting to see if Mouratoglou can boost her confidence and guide her back to winning ways. Do you think the Osaka-Mouratoglou pairing will be a success or a major flop?