It’s pretty hard to keep calm after seeing the ‘Queen of the Court‘ pulling up her socks, and shining her armory on the other side of the court. How difficult it is to hold the temperament at that moment and then outclass her with their own performances? Well, there aren’t many who would stand a chance to tell the secret of beating Serena Williams on bigger stages of the game. But Wim Fissette is an exception! He has worked with six different players who have beaten Serena Williams quite a few times in the past. Fissette got a closer look at how the 23-time Grand Slam champion used tactics to get into the head of her opponents. The secret to success?
Believe. As it says, believe you can and you’re halfway there! Recently, while speaking to The AO Show’s ‘The Sit-Down with Wim Fissette’ podcast, the renowned Belgian tennis coach revealed how important it was to be strong mentally to outclass the American tennis legend, who loves playing mind games. Fissette has coached several world number-one tennis stars in his career so far. To beat Serena Williams was pretty special to him and he’s proud of his achievements. But the one which struck him the most during those matches was, “I think Serena definitely won a lot of matches before the match started,” Fissette.
Serena Williams is someone who always came up with vast experience in winning multiple matches and titles in her career. He added, “I think making the player aware of like, what was going to happen even before the match would start, you know. Say she likes to be a little bit late, before the start of the match. So she likes to make you wait.” He said there were a couple of other things which Williams used to do before the match to make her presence felt by her opponents. “Seeing Serena on the other side is not easy to stay calm, like so it’s super important,” Wim Fissette.
The 44-year-old tennis coach has won six major titles by coaching multiple tennis stars in his career. But watching his player (Angelique Kerber) beat seven-time champion Serena Williams at the finals of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships was really special. It holds a special place in his heart. How did he manage to do this next-to-impossible task?
“That was phenomenal” – Fissette’s reaction to Kerber beating Serena Williams in the finals of the 2018 Wimbledon
Fissette began working with two-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one Angelique Kerber in 2018 after the German struggled throughout 2017 and fell out of the top-20. Being the third Major champion Fissette worked with in his coaching career, Kerber defeated Serena Williams by 6-3,6-3 in the finals of 2018 Wimbledon Championships. Wim revealed what worked best for Kerber in accomplishing such a feat: “Starts with first of all the right play plan and confidence. I felt like I mean, the whole year, Angelique was playing really well.”
Fissette said Kerber knew grass court was her best surface. He added they had a good preparatory camp ahead of the tournament in Eastbourne. But the only issue which he had about her game at that moment was, that she was very passive. Hence, the Belgian coach had to then ask her to play a little more aggressively and take her chances whenever there was an opportunity. Winning Wimbledon was Kerber’s dream and she was pretty much confident about winning the tournament that year. But to defeat one of the best player of all time, Serena Williams was really exceptional. “That was phenomenal” – Wim Fissette’s reaction to the Wimbledon triumph in an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports in 2022 adds weight to the case.
