Seems like Serena Williams’ ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou somehow knew what his tenure with another multi-slam winner, Naomi Osaka, would be like. “If I coach Naomi and she doesn’t do something well, I’m going to hear about it. I take no special pride in coaching champions. For me, if I don’t bring her to her top level, I didn’t do a good job,” he said earlier this year. After joining the four-time major champion last season, their player-coach journey has been, at best, forgettable. Reason? The underwhelming, miserable results for Osaka in the majority of her campaigns lately. Apart from the injury-ridden performances, the Japanese star never really looked convincing enough in her on-court appearances. And as expected, she recently parted ways with Williams’ ex-trainer. But the question remains: what went wrong? Or was it wrong all along throughout her time with Mouratoglou and did he play a role in this setback?

Osaka was looking to capture a fifth slam this year. Unfortunately, she’s failed to do so across any of the three majors so far. In Melbourne, her journey was short-lived due to an abdominal injury in the third round. Then in Paris, she just couldn’t move past the first round after losing to Paula Badosa. Earlier this month at Wimbledon, she lost in the third round, where she was initially leading. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ousted her eventually. The writing was on the wall following such debacles. Just days back, Osaka took to her Instagram and announced that she had parted ways with Mouratoglou. “It was such a great experience learning from you. Wishing you nothing but the best. You are one of the coolest people I’ve ever met and I’m sure I’ll see you around 🙏🏾.”

Looking at how her stint with Mouratoglou came to an abrupt end, The Tennis Podcast’s host Matt Roberts had some intriguing observations to make. He believes the ex-coach’s ‘red flag’ behavior may have led Osaka to a negative space. Where her performance could never really escalate. When co-host Catherine Whitaker asked, “She’s lost, isn’t she, Matt? Naomi Osaka is lost right now,” he replied. “Yeah and look, when she hired Patrick Mouratoglou in the first place, looking at the recent history, I was always worried about sort of where it might end up, that coaching relationship. If you look at where he left Holger Rune and where he left Simona Halep, probably in a worse place than where he found them.”

For the uninitiated, Rune and Mouratoglou had a player-coach stint from October 2022 to April 2023. After an initial split, they reunited again last year in February before permanently parting ways in July 2024. As for Halep, the ex-WTA icon began her partnership with Williams’ ex-coach in April 2022. But it wrapped up sooner than expected in October that year owing to Halep’s doping tests coming back positive due to food contamination.

Roberts highlighted how injuries really affected Osaka’s on-court form. Eventually, the results weren’t as per expectations and “in her words, the results haven’t been resulting and there’s just been a lot of red flags really over the last few months.” Not to mention “that statement from Mouratoglou about no stars in women’s tennis, like you’re literally working with Naomi Osaka.”

Then there was this media interaction in Paris, where Osaka spoke about “not wanting to let him down and how he used to work with the greatest of all time and now he’s seeing that performance after her loss to Badosa. Like that was a red flag of not a healthy player-coach relationship.” And lastly, there was an instance from Wimbledon. During the press conference, Osaka “was like yeah I didn’t know he said that he’d said that, but I do see some stuff that he says when I’m scrolling, and it just wasn’t really sounding good and the results haven’t been over the last few months and yeah, lost is kind of a good way to put it really and that very often leads to a coaching change.”

While they are on their own separate ways now, it will be interesting to see how their journeys shape up. Meanwhile, Mouratoglou did share a message after the split. So what did he reveal in his last note to Osaka?

Patrick Mouratoglou shares final remarks after ending stint with Naomi Osaka

For the uninitiated, Naomi Osaka worked with Wim Fissette before Mouratoglou. That collaboration lasted for four years. Fissette now coaches recently crowned Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek.

After ending her partnership with Fissette, Osaka hired Serena Williams’ former trainer in late 2024. During this collaboration, they both used to share updates from intense training sessions. It hinted toward a healthy, constant interaction between the two. Osaka once even mentioned how she wanted an ambulance following an intense workout session.

Earlier this year in March, Mouratoglou admired Osaka’s determination to get better each day. In an interview with The New York Times, he observed that the four-time slam queen stepped on the court with a goal to improve. However, the collaboration is now over. So what does Mouratoglou think now?

Sharing his final thoughts on his stint with Osaka, he dropped an Instagram post, dated July 28. Accompanying his note was a series of pictures showing various moments of him with the WTA star. “Nothing lasts forever. What counts is what a collaboration has brought to each other and what lasts after. After 10 months of collaboration, we have decided to part ways professionally. I am grateful for the trust, the journey and what we have built together. I will always root for you and wish you nothing but the best, @naomiosaka.”

What’s your take on Osaka’s tenure with Mouratoglou? Do you think the former World No. 1 will be able to make a stellar return eventually?