"There was like a slight f**k you"- Zheng Qinwen will find a lot of drive from coach Wim Fisette's alleged breach of contract, says Andrea Petkovic

Former World No. 9 Andrea Petkovic recently gave her thoughts on Zheng Qinwen's criticism of her former coach, Wim Fissette, for supposedly breaching their contract.

Zheng parted ways with coach Pere Riba after this year's French Open and subsequently enlisted the services of Fissette. Under the Belgian coach's guidance, she achieved remarkable milestones, including winning her first WTA Tour singles title in Palermo and reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Their partnership, however, was short-lived as they soon went their separate ways. Fissette decided to reunite with four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in late September after initially splitting with her in July last year.

After parting ways, Zheng Qinwen said that Wim Fissette had breached their contract, which was highly "immoral" on his part. She further expressed that this split has caused "harm" to both her and her family.

"He [Wim Fissette] broke the contract, and it is very immoral. This is his choice, and I will respect that. Even though this brings some harm to me and my family, I don’t want to talk about that person right now, don’t want to talk about him,” Zheng said in a press conference in September.

Speaking to Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs, in a recent episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Petkovic praised the clever manner in which Zheng expressed her grievances with Fissette. The German further expressed that this separation from the Belgian will greatly contribute to Zheng becoming resilient in the upcoming season.

"I do think that she [Zheng] will build ‘cause the way she phrased her complaints about him was in my mind maybe it’s just me projecting but in my mind there was like a slight f**k you in between those lines. Sorry for these words. But I think that will give her a lot of resilience for next year. I think she will find a lot of drive in this," Andrea Petkovic said (01:01:26 in the podcast).

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Zheng Qinwen won her first WTA Tour title at Palermo Open 2023 under the tutelage of Wim Fissette

Zheng Qinwen at the 2023 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open

Under the guidance of coach Wim Fissette, Zheng Qinwen won her first tour-level title at the Palermo Ladies Open, a WTA 250 tournament, in July of this year.

Seeded second, Zheng overcame several grueling three-set matches. Her campaign began with a stunning 6-0, 6-0 first-round victory over Sara Errani before she beat Frances Diane Parry 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the last 16.

Continuing her impressive performance, Zheng dominated the third round with a straight sets win over American Emma Navarro, defeating her 6-4, 6-2. Advancing to the semifinals, Zheng faced a formidable opponent in Mayar Sherif, who was seeded at No. 3.

During the match, the 21-year-old unleashed an impressive 42 winners, overshadowing Sherif's 20, effectively defeating the Egyptian 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in just over three hours.

Zheng then defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the final to secure her very first WTA Tour title and become only the 11th Chinese woman to win a WTA singles title.