The way in which the phenomenal and accomplished spirit of athletes works can often catch regular people off guard. How is it that a tennis player like Naomi Osakaa quarter Chelem Champion and former world n ° 1, would never go to a place where she could question her capacities?
It happens all the time, even with the big ones of all time – a subset of tennis species that Patrick MouratoglouThe longtime coach and the impresario of the tennis media, spent most of his career to study. He trained the best of the best, Serena WilliamsAt the scene of so many of its greatest triumphs.
In September 2024, three -quarters of the path throughout his return season after giving birth to his daughter, Shai, Osaka hired Mouratogou to replace Wim Fissette. Osaka had found Fissette (which had trained it between 2019 and 2022) the previous summer, to prepare for her Back to competitive tennis last January. At first, she was magnanimous as to the relationship between improvement and results. When she came at a time of beat IGA Swiatek at the French Open last year, Osaka was not broken down: “Obviously, the results are not resulting at the moment, but I think I develop each tournament,” she said at her press conference.
When the results have still not resulted, Osaka found himself fighting against her confidence and decided to move away from the coach with whom she won two of these four Grand Slam titles.
Osaka, 27, has not yet won a title with Mouratoglou, but she got closer. She had to retire with an abdominal injury when she was in place against Clara Tauson in the Auckland Classic final in New Zealand in January and she played her best tennis since he became a mother in the past five months, when her body has allowed her to do so.
“I just had to believe in me much more,” said Osaka at Australian Open after her victory in the second round over Karolina Muchova, one of the most gifted players in the world, who had Has Passe Osaka at the same stadium in the United States Open Four months ago. There, in Melbourne, Osaka spoke of returning to win the last two sets after losing the first 6-1, but she could have talked about how, in good health, she rediscovered her fanfaron and her ability to remove the racket from her opponents.
It is not an accident.
In an interview in February in Los Angeles, where he and Osaka prepared for his return from this abdominal injury, Mouratoglou said that they had worked on the confrontation of these moments when she feels her belief sliding and to find ways to overcome them.
Patrick Mouratoglou with Naomi Osaka at the January Australian Open. (David Gray / AFP via Getty Images)
“You gain confidence with what you do every day in practice,” said Mouratoglou.
After two weeks of hard training, Osaka will try to bring this boastful to the opening of BNP Paribas to Indian wellsCalifornia this week.
In the interview, Mouratoglou, 54, said that he was not expecting anything less from Osaka, a player who, according to him, comes to court every day with an open mind and hungry to try anything to improve.
All the big ones do.
This conversation has been modified for more clarity and length.
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Naomi Osaka and the severity of a superstar at the US Open
How does his injury feel?
She has no pain. We serve, but slowly and gradually. She did the job to try to make sure she is no longer injured.
How is it to work with players at your level? How does she compare herself with Serena Williams?
I do not compare anyone to Serena. It is very exciting, because of its potential. She has the potential to win many more slams. His motivation is very high. Tennis is high priority and it is ready to return to the end.
How do you know if you are a good fit with her?
I do not know if it is a good adjustment – all the players are different, and as a coach, you must adapt.
Is it different when you train a superstar rather than some of the players with whom you worked who are not at this level?
It is very important when you work with a superstar that you do the same as if the player is not a superstar. You have to speak normally to a person, as if they were a normal player. When they realize so much, they have certifications on what they do, but they must be open enough to learn and continue to grow. This is where Naomi is. She really wants to improve. She really takes the advice and gives 100%. She is not afraid. It is the state of mind of the champion.
It’s interesting that you said that. I would have thought that people who have won so much in the past think they know how to start again.
They are champions because they do what it takes to improve; Their ability to trust the person working with them to tell them what to do and what it takes. It makes them champions.
Rafa (Nadal) and Novak (Djokovic), they have undergone so many technical changes. They see sport as a race. Everyone improves. This is how Serena saw the world. If you are satisfied with what you have and you do not try new things, you will be overwhelmed by others. Progress comes from seeing the areas you can improve with.
Why is Osaka better now than it was last year?
His confidence is much higher. It comes from what she did in training. She trains extremely well. She pushes herself. His game gained consistency. A player must be aware of what she feels, even if she feels that she loses confidence. Before, she did not express herself. Most of the matches, she lost because she stopped believing and it is not authorized.
We practice matches. She is aware of what she feels. We talk about it. We work there in the moment. It is good to have this feeling, it is natural – there is no shame in being nervous. We just have to be aware of it. This can affect you but it cannot affect you too much – Novak becomes super nervous or angry, but the most important thing is the ability to come back very quickly. Otherwise, you lose points and points and points. You have the right to become nervous and lose confidence, but not too long and not too long.
You don’t talk much during matches other than small messages of encouragement. For what?
There is not so much to say, unless I see that she does not follow the plan in one way or another. The match, we prepare it before. The only thing I can do is support her.
In Muchova’s match in Melbourne, Muchova was playing very well and Naomi had trouble reaching his level. I saw it in the past year. I discovered that when she was in trouble, her level of confidence would drop a lot and the game was affected.
Her first tournament in China, she had lost 20 games in a row when she had lost the first set. This time, she did not leave what was going on on the ground playing with her mind. It is impossible not to be affected by the score. They must be affected by the score. How much it affects you and it affects you in a way that can harm you is the question. You want to be assigned but stay under control. Continue to believe in what you do.
Did she do against Muchova?
She stayed mentally there. You don’t leave. No one plays the first point perfectly at the last.
When you trained Serena, you competed against Osaka. Have you shared your old game plans with her?
No. You don’t want to strengthen the stains that are lower. I also don’t think you are winning by improving your mistakes so much. You prepare solutions and improve your strengths. If anyone has a good match plan to beat Jannik sinnerI would like to see it. Players at this level, you have to catch them for a certain day when there are weaknesses.
I want my players to know how to transform their forces into arms: “What is my player’s play style and how do they earn points?”.
So what are the forces of Osaka at this stage which should be its weapons?
When she is at the top of the game, she plays faster than anyone. It makes it very difficult to organize a point against it. It comes back to you with the ball in so shortly. When the ball touches the racket, it goes so fast on the other side of the net, and it can be very precise by hitting its spots.
It also has a large place for improvement. She can come back better, to be more aggressive on the second service, to take better time for the opponent. The right thing is that it is extremely open to new ideas. I told her what I thought when I arrived and she told me that she was very excited to go to work because she believed that she was going to learn new things.
Naomi Osaka holds the Australian open trophy after the 2019 final. (Getty Images)
Are the best telling you?
Absolutely. They forget what they achieved a minute after achieving it. Serena finished in 2012 Wimbledon and the US Open and the Olympic Games and the WTA Tour finals. She comes out of the field and tells me to offer a plan to win the French Open. She says, “I have been chasing him for 10 years. I want to win Roland Garros, make a plan for me to win it. (Williams won the French Open 2013.)
The past is the past. It is important not to look at the past. “Let’s move on. Always focus on the trip, where we want to go. ” It’s Naomi right now. It is very ambitious. She believes her story must be written. This is important, because when you hold a trophy, it only lasts a few minutes. You must be excited by the next one.
What has changed about tennis in recent years?
In general, the level of fitness has improved a lot. It’s easy to explain. All the best players travel with a fitness coach and a physiotherapist. It was not true before. The players’ movement is so much better. On the side of women ((Aryna) SabalenkaFor its size, moves so well. Then Iga (Swiatek) and Coco (Gauff).
(Carlos) AlcarazSinaning, it’s crazy to see how they move on the ground. Even someone like Tomas Machac. It is therefore more difficult to hit the winners, to pass the ball to the field. If Naomi continues to evolve as it is, she will be able to strike so many winners again.
Naomi said she didn’t know if you would really be a good coach because you had trained Serena and she wondered if Serena even needed a coach. Others sometimes wonder how much you have an impact when you train these big ones of all time? How does that affect you?
People who say that do not know what they are talking about. If I train Naomi and that it does not do something well, I will hear about it. I am not proud of the champions coach. For me, if I do not bring it to the highest level, I did not do a good job.
(Top Photo: David Gray / AFP via Getty Images)