Why Naomi Osaka may rehire Bajin as her coach after his split with Mladenovic

Naomi Osaka and Sacha Bajin split in a very mysterious way soon after the Japanese sensation conquered her 2nd slam at the Australian Open earlier in January. The chemistry between the two was absolutely great and many credited the German for being a key element of Naomi’s meteoric rise.

Naomi and Jermaine Jenkins

After parting ways, it was all misery for Osaka that was struggling with being so famous. Furthermore, she had a serious of disappointing results under the guidance of her new coach Jermaine Jenkins in the following months.

Interesting enough, as soon as the Japanese dropped the American coach, she won 2 consecutive tournaments in Osaka and Beijing as if she found the mental switch again. When she fired Jenkins, there were speculations that she might had the idea of teaming up again with Sascha Bajin. However, the German was coaching Kiki Mladenovic that was also finding her way with Sascha. Dropping the Frenchwoman during the season would not have been “classy”, but…

Osaka and Bajin partnering again?

After splitting with Jermaine, Naomi declared that her father would coach her for the rest of the season, giving the impression that she was waiting for “something.” Again, for many, it seemed as she was waiting for Sacha to be free. Eventually, =the “fantasy” became a sort of reality as on Sunday Kiki Mladenovic tweeted her disappointment for being dropped by Bajin to state:

“I’m very disappointed about Sascha’s decision not to continue our relationship next season. I enjoyed our work, we had some great wins and I truly felt my game was on the rise again.
I think that there was a lot more to achieve together but I can’t change his opinion & decision. On my side, I am proud of my year & progress and I will keep working hard and build strong to be even better in 2020.”

Therefore, if the “mysterious disagreements” between Sascha and Naomi (or her team?) are settled it is plausible to see them working together. That would be extremely beneficial for both.

JUST RUMOURS. Not Naomi Osaka? Sascha Bajin now said to coach Kim Clijsters

Naomi Osaka’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.3, Naomi played her last match on the 6^th of October when she beat Ashleigh Barty 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the final in Beijing to win her 5^th career title.

This year Naomi has a 39-11 win-loss record. The Japanese conquered 3 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Osaka and in Beijing.

Kristina Mladenovic’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.45, Mladenovic played her last match on the 19^th of October when she surrendered to Belinda Bencic 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in Moscow.

Kristina Mladenovic’s best performance of the present year was reaching the semi-finals in Moscow and Zhengzhou.

Naomi Osaka and Kristina Mladenovic played each other 3 times. The head to head is 2-1 for Osaka.

The last time that they fought against each other, Naomi Osaka won 6-3 6-4 in the 2^nd round in Indian Wells in 09^th March 2019.