“Patrick seemed like the guy with the information that I wanted to learn from” – Osaka confirms Mouratoglou as her new coach
Osaka is playing her first tournament since splitting with Wim Fissette and joining forces with Mouratoglou
Naomi Osaka, US Open 2024
Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic
Four-time Grand Slam champion Noami Osaka has confirmed that Patrick Mouratoglou is her new coach and that she is looking at the relationship as a long-term one.
Osaka announced she was parting ways with Wim Fissette earlier this month. She was then spotted training with the French coach in Los Angeles before arriving with him in Beijing for this week’s WTA China Open.
Neither Osaka nor Mouratoglou had made an official statement on the collaboration until today when the former world No 1 spoke to the media after her first round win at the China Open.
” I’m calling him my coach right now. I would hope so (that it’s long-term). 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 said after her 6-3, 6-2 in over Lucia Bronzetti.
When asked about her reasons for parting ways with Fissette and joining forces with Mouratolgou, who has coached Holger Rune most recently and Serena Williams prior to that, Osaka said she felt she needed a change and wanted to learn as much as possible at this point in her career.
“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. 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,” Osaka said.
“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.”
He absolutely is a really good coach. I’m really glad that he’s taking this project on, as well.
Naomi Osaka on Patrick Mouratoglou
Osaka also revealed that Mouratoglou’s coaching history with Serena Williams, considered one of the all-time greats in women’s tennis, made her hesitant to want to work with him earlier.
“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. 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. 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 next faces 21st seed Yulia Putintseva, from Kazakhstan, in the second round. The Japanese player won this tournament the last time she played it, in 2019.
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