Osaka and Mouratoglou work together in Beijing ahead of China Open

Naomi Osaka and famous coach Patrick Mouratoglou arrived together in Beijing, a few days before the 2024 China Open, the strongest indication yet that the pair are to work together on an official basis.

The former world No 1 ended her partnership with coach Wim Fissette last week and widespread reports suggested Osaka would be teaming up with Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams and most recently, Holger Rune.

The China Open released photos on its Instagram feed on Thursday (September 19), showing the pair arriving in tow at the airport.

Osaka will enter the China Open contention this year as a wildcard. She won the title in Beijing in 2019, when she beat Australia’s Ash Barty in the final, and hasn’t competed in the tournament since then.

In a new video that emerged on social media on Saturday, the duo were seen together on the practice courts of Beijing.

As seen in the clip, Osaka worked on her swings while Mouratoglou monitored the drills.

Tennis Majors understands that Osaka, now ranked world No will confirm Mouratoglou as her new coach in the next few days.

Rumours of a partnership between Osaka and Mouratoglou have been swirling ever since a picture of the Japanese practising at the University of California, Los Angeles was released on Instagram last week, the same day as her split from Fissette was announced.

Osaka and Fissette worked together on two occasions, from 2019-2022 and again from 2023-2024 after Osaka returned following the birth of her first child. She won two Grand Slam titles under the Belgian’s guidance, triumphing at the the US Open in 2020 and at the Australian Open in 2021.

Mouratoglou is leading the video program Eye of the coach for Tennis Majors.

Mouratoglou’s portfolio: Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Holger Rune and More

Mouratoglou began his teaching journey as the coach of Marcos Baghdatis, who won the Australian Open Boys’ title in 2003 and reached the men’s final in 2006, losing to Roger Federer.

Between 2007-12, while operating the Mouratoglou Academy in France, Mouratoglou made crucial contributions to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Frenchwoman Arvane Rezai and former world No 12 Yanina Wickmayer. He also helped to train Britain’s Laura Robson and fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, and notably brought Grigor Dimitrov back into the top 50 after the Bulgarian had dropped out of the top 100 in 2012.

But it was his partnership with Serena Williams, which began after she suffered a shock first-round exit from the 2012 French Open, which really cemented his reputation.

Williams won 10 Grand Slams with Mouratoglou, starting with Wimbledon in 2012 and passed Steffi Graf in the all-time list of Grand Slam winners when she won her 23rd major at the Australian Open in 2017.

Mouratoglou also worked with Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas when the latter became the youngest player to beat the Big 3 — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer — in 2019. He was among his team when the Greek won the ATP Finals in London that year.

Mouratoglou’s affiliation with Serena Williams ceased in 2022, the year the American hung up her rackets. In the following months, he coached two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep to return to the WTA top 10 after the Romanian had slipped to 27th place in the world rankings due to an injury to the calf. The pair split in December 2023, with Halep having tested positive for a banned drug, for which she was initially banned for four years, but reduced on appeal to nine months.

The Frenchman tutored 19-year-old Holger Rune to the ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris in 2022 with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Novak Djokovic in the final and later helped him to reach a career-high ranking of world No 4.

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