Shortly after parting ways with Wim Fissette, Naomi Osaka brought in Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, into her team. She had hoped that her stint with the Frenchman would develop into a long-term partnership, but according to the latest updates, they have now parted ways after just 10 months of their collaboration. Currently ranked 49th in the world, Osaka has a win-loss record of 21-11 this season. However, despite a pretty ordinary performance in this season, she managed to lift a title at the WTA 125K Saint-Malo, FR. Mouratoglou had then congratulated Osaka, saying, “I am so proud of you!” But suddenly, after her failure on grass courts, things perhaps took a different turn.

After losing her third-round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a three-set thriller, Osaka looked quite disappointed, and the four-time Grand Slam champion failed to find words to explain her shocking defeat. “I’m just going to be a negative human being today. I’m so sorry. I have nothing positive to say about myself…” Following this, Patrick Mouratoglou dropped a heartfelt post on IG congratulating Pavlyuchenkova on her win and asking Osaka to keep her head high and be patient. Following that Wimbledon defeat, Naomi Osaka went down to Emma Raducanu in the R16 of the 2025 Citi Open by 4-6,2-6.

Amid all these setbacks, Osaka dropped a post on IG saying, “Merci, Patrick. 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.” Seeing this, the Frenchman also posted on IG saying that he’ll always root for her and also wished her all the best for the future. Is this split a bit surprising, especially since we had previously heard Naomi Osaka expressing her excitement about teaming up with someone who had previously coached her tennis idol, Serena Williams? Well, tennis expert Jon Wertheim had something to say on this during the recent episode of the ‘Served’ podcast.

He said, “I don’t think this was a huge surprise. This has been a relationship of less than a year. Naomi Osaka has won a fair number of matches, but not at the biggest and best events. She just took a loss to Emma Raducanu in Washington, D.C. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, wasn’t there. I think some of this is about results, some of this is about logistics at Patrick’s got his hand in a million pots and he’s promoting a book and he’s doing the tennis showdown and Naomi’s based in Miami and Patrick’s an ocean away in Nice.”

Having said that, Wertheim also claimed Patrick Mouratoglou is someone who pumps a player with confidence more than any sort of tactical expertise. Hence, if a player doesn’t have confidence like Naomi Osaka (as Jon Wertheim feels), he says he’s not sure what the relationship is all about.

Talking about her coaches in the past, Naomi Osaka was first coached by her father Leonard Francois. She was then just three years old, and later on, Patrick Tauma became her coach when she began to play on the ITF Women’s Circuit. In 2014, she spent almost seven months training at an academy run by Harold Solomon, a former top-five player. Following that, in 2016, the Japan Tennis Association helped Naomi Osaka by introducing David Taylor to her team, but a year later, she switched to a partnership with Sascha Bajin, before hiring Karue Sell as her hitting partner and then bringing in Wim Fissette at the start of the 2020 season. Who will be her next coach, now?

Iga Swiatek’s ex-coach could probably replace Patrick Mouratoglou in Naomi Osaka’s team

Finding consistency has now become one of the biggest challenges for Naomi Osaka at the moment. Speaking about her split with Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’ childhood coach, Rick Macci said, “Winning/ losing is a fine line. Naomi can flip the script with the right choice and what she 100% needs, and a proven voice. Her split step is way off, and overall anticipation is on vacation. This can be corrected if it is explained in detail, and no doubt her confidence will not fail.”

Having said that, Macci also made a very bold prediction for Naomi Osaka. Despite all her recent struggles, he claimed that the former world number one could rediscover her form sooner or later. Not only that, Macci also stated that there is a big chance of her getting back to the top ten by the year’s end. Can she really bounce back with a strong finish in the 2025 season? Time will tell!

But as per the latest updates, Naomi Osaka will now probably join hands with Iga Swiatek’s ex-coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, on a trial basis. Their partnership starts right from her campaign in Montreal. But it’ll be interesting to see if he continues even at the 2025 US Open as well or not. So far in Montreal, Osaka has secured a victory in her first match against Canada’s Ariana Arseneault in the first round. She will now be taking on Liudmila Samsonova in her next match. Do you think she can keep her winning run intact here?