Naomi Osaka reveals why she originally wanted to ‘avoid’ Patrick Mouratoglou
Naomi Osaka has confirmed that Patrick Mouratoglou is going to be her coach for the foreseeable future, admitting why she previously wanted to ‘avoid’ the Frenchman.
Osaka played her first match since the US Open yesterday in Beijing, beating Lucia Bronzetti 6-3 6-2.
This was the Japanese stars first match since splitting with her coach of three years, Wim Fissette, before it was rumoured that she was working with Mouratoglou.
And now the four-time Grand Slam champion has told press in the Chinese capital that she is hoping her partnership with Mouratoglou will be long term.
”I’m calling him my coach right now. I would hope so (that it’s long-term),” revealed Osaka. I try not to get into relationships with people for short-term. I try to think of it as a long-term commitment. I like the way he coaches. I think it’s going to be really interesting.”
Osaka continued to lift the lid on her split with the aforementioned Fisette, explaining that it was amicable and why she wanted to make a change.
“I think Wim is one of my favorite people. I don’t want to say ‘one of’, but definitely one of my favorite coaches. It wasn’t anything personal. Like nothing crazy happened,” said the former No.1. “I just felt like I needed a change. It sucks because I wanted to lift trophies with him. I know we went into that relationship wanting to do that together.
“I think I’m at a stage in my life that I don’t want to have regrets. I’d rather, like, pull the trigger on something and I don’t want to say ‘fail’, but I feel like I really need to learn as much as possible in this stage of my career. Patrick seemed like the guy with I guess the information that I wanted to learn from.”
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Despite praising Mouratoglou’s coaching style, Osaka admitted that she originally wanted to ‘avoid’ him due to speculation about his partnership with Serena Williams.
“I think the fact that he was Serena’s coach for me made me want to avoid him just because his persona is so big,” revealed Osaka. “This isn’t rude because I found out it’s not true, but I didn’t know – this sounds so bad – I didn’t know if he was a good coach or he coached Serena. Does that make sense? I’m like, I’m just going to do my own thing.”
The 26-year-old continued, “Then I met him, talked to him, worked with him on the court. He absolutely is a really good coach. I’m really glad that he’s taking this project on, as well. I would say I’m still a little nervous around him.
“I kind of look to the floor when he looks at me. I’m like… I think I do need a lot more time to spend together with him. I’m getting a little more comfortable day by day.”
Osaka will look to continue her budding coaching relationship with Mouratoglou against 21st seed Yulia Putintseva tomorrow at the China Open.
Inside the baseline…
When this coaching relationship between Naomi Osaka and Patrick Mouratoglou first started to be rumoured, it took many people aback with it seemingly coming out of the blue. Mouratoglou has had most of his success with Serena Williams, but it is arguable that anyone could have had success with one of the greatest players to ever play the sport. However, in recent times Mouratoglou’s coaching relationships have been more volatile, with Simona Halep being suspended for doping and Holger Rune having a dip in form, so it is somewhat surprising that Osaka has taken this route.
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