Kerber on new coach: 'It all starts with me'

Germany's No. 1 women's tennis player told reporters at an event in Cologne that Rainer Schüttler had ticked all of the boxes, when she went looking for a new coach following her parting of ways with Wim Fissette. 

"It was particularly important that we speak the same language," the Wimbledon champion said. "As a former professional, he has the experience, he's been on the Tour – not the WTA Tour, but I don't think that will be a major adjustment. He knows what it is like to deal with pressure on the court."

The world No.2 also indicated that after a successful 2018, she wasn't looking for Schüttler, whose claim to fame as a player was reaching the final of the 2003 Australian Open, to make any major adjustments to her game.

"I don't need anybody to teach me how to play tennis. I've been on the Tour for a few years now, I know how to play," Kerber said. "It all starts with me."

Split with Fissette 'over and done with'

Asked about what led to her surprising split from Fissette ahead of the WTA Finals in Singapore, Kerber declined to say any more than she had in a statement issued at the time, which spoke of "differences of opinion as to the future direction."

"For me, the subject of Fissette is over and done with," she said. 

The appointment of Schüttler as his replacement has been questioned by some, particularly since his coaching experience since he retired as a player in 2012 has been limited, and as Kerber noted, he has never been involved in the WTA Tour. 

On the same wavelength?

However, there are also arguments to be made to suggest that the choice  of the 42-year-old Schüttler will turn out to be a good one. For one thing, it is no secret that Kerber prefers to discuss tactics in her native German, although her use of the term "same language" can also be interpreted as referring to being on the same wavelength. And there is some reason to suggest that this too could be the case; like Kerber, Schüttler the player had to work for everything he got – at one point rising the No. 5 in the world.

Also important to know about Kerber is that she doesn't tend to like radical changes in her routine. Had she hired a foreign coach, she could well have wound up having to travel far abroad for training sessions. By going with the German coach, she can continue to make her base Puszczykowo in Poland, where she lives with her grandparents, who own a tennis academy.

'Continuing to be consistently successful'

The Rainer Schüttler era doesn't actually begin until Monday, his first day on the job. The duo's first tournament as coach and player will be the year-ending the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, where she will represent Germany along with Alexander Zverev, who is coming off winning the ATP Finals in London at the weekend. It will only be then and even more so during Australian Open in January, that we can expect to begin to see if the appointment of Schüttler will have the desired effect of helping Kerber to "continue to be consistently successful" in 2019.