Naomi Osaka Made A Wise Move By Splitting With Sascha Bajin

Published 02/17/2019, 4:47 PM EST

Follow Us

via Imago

The 21-year-old Japanese, Naomi Osaka made a shocking announcement a few days ago where she notified about her partnership annulment with her coach, Sascha Bajin. As she heads for the desert championship in Dubai, the top seed, alluded to her precedence in life. She believes happiness is prior to success. Over the past year, under Bajin’s tutelage, Osaka claimed the U.S. Open, the Australian Open and the World Number one echelon.

 

via Imago

It’s the first time for Naomi Osaka as a top seed at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship, followed by the Australian Open 2019 finalist, Petra Kvitova on the second place and the former World Number one, Simona Halep on the third. “It’s a big tournament. Every tournament is difficult. And this one is unbelievable. We have so many great players playing here. Of course, it’s always tough to win a tournament,” said the 2013 Gulf champion, Kvitova. “I missed Dubai last year. So I am happy to be back. You always have the best memories when you win a title.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Naomi Osaka articulated a few reasons behind the termination of the thriving league. “Everyone thinks it was a money-related issue, but it wasn’t,” Osaka uttered. “That’s one of the most hurtful things I’ve ever heard. I travel with everyone on my team, I see them more than my family. I would never do that to them. I think my reason is I wouldn’t put success over my happiness – that’s my main thing.”

via Imago

She continued to explain, “I’m not going to say anything bad about him (Bajin), I’m really grateful for all the things that he’s done.  If anything, you would have to see or ask him. It (the sacking) was kind of brewing in Australia. I think some people could see that if they saw how we interacted. I would not want to split on really bad terms; he is the person who made me open up more to people. I didn’t want it to be really, like, hard stopping.”

The Japanese player,Naomi Osaka believes that it’s not a wise act to progress to the ‘American Double Sunshine’  without a coach, and soon she will commence the hunt for her mentor. “It’s not really ideal to go to Indian Wells (in March) without a coach. All the people that I have right now, they’re all willing to do the things that he (Bajin) does. I don’t think it will be that much of a big deal,” Osaka mention. Osaka will open against the Frenchwoman, Kristina Mladenovic in the second round of the Gulf tournament.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Mahalakshmi Murali

1,909Articles

One take at a time

Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
Show More>