November 7, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden
Simona Halep, the fourth-ranked player in the world, has split with her coach, Wim Fissette, she announced on her Facebook page Thursday.The coach-player relationship between the pair lasted less than a year. Fissette was hired in January after Halep parted ways with then coach Adrian Marcu.
“My collaboration with Wim Fissette will come to an end, following a mutual agreement,” said Halep in the post. “It was a good and beautiful year. I want to thank him and wish him good luck in the future.”
Under Fissette, Halep’s ranking rose from 11th all the way to number two in the world. She reached her first career Grand Slam final in 2014, going all the way to the title match at Roland Garros. The Romanian also made the semifinals at Wimbledon.
In the final tournament of the year at the WTA Finals in Singapore, Halep played some of her best tennis. In the round-robin stage, she handed top-ranked Serena Williams her worst loss in 16 years and made it all the way to the title match before running into Serena again.
Halep finished the year as the fourth-ranked player in the world, and at the age of 23, she will be a threat on the tour for years to come. She has yet to make an announcement on her next coach.
