Victoria Azarenka hires Wim Fissette as new coach

Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka has added Wim Fissette, former coach to Kim Clijsters and Simona Halep, to her team. Azarenka was spotted practicing with Fissette on Monday at the Khalifa Complex in Doha, Qatar, where she is prepping for next week's Qatar Open, after the tournament granted her a wildcard last week. 

Azarenka confirmed the hire on Twitter:

[tweet=https://twitter.com/vika7/status/567715498721161216]

Currently ranked No. 50 after an injury-addled 2014 season, Azarenka split with her former coach Sam Sumyk after the Australian Open. Sumyk was quickly hired by No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard. That created a perfect opportunity for Fissette. The Belgian coached Halep to her first Slam final last year and a career-high No. 2 ranking before the Romanian surprisingly cut ties when the season was over, expressing her desire to stick with Romanian coaches. He was set to join Madison Keys' coaching team during the off-season before Keys chose to work with Lindsay Davenport and her husband John Leach. It was only a matter of time before he was picked up by an elite player.