After leading Naomi Osaka to her first major, Sascha Bajin tries again with Pliskova

Sascha Bajin is definitely one of the most interesting coaches on the WTA tour. After being the hitting partner of Serena Williams, he helped Naomi Osaka to achieve greatness. Under his tutelage, the Japanese sensation won her first 2 slams. However, the former world no.1 fired the German coach for “mysterious” reasons soon after conquering Melbourne.

Bajin had a brief but successful stint with Kiki Mladenovic. However, he “abandoned” her to partner with rising star Dayana Yastremska. Unfortunately, things didn’t go well with the Ukrainian sensation and it was time for Dayana to jettison Bajin. Nevertheless, Sascha is a great coach, and therefore, he was hired by another former no.1, Karolina Pliskova.

Bajin coaching Karolina Pliskova

The Czech reached the top of the rankings and she already conquered 16 titles. However, she has never won a slam. Karolina’s best result in a major was when she reached the final in New York back in 2016.  In that occasion, she lost to Angelique Kerber in 3 sets.

During a recent interview with Tennisnet, Sascha confirmed that the major goal of his partnership with Pliskova is winning a slam.

“The clear goal is to win a Grand Slam tournament. I hope I can help her with this. So far she may have put too much pressure on herself and hopefully, we will stop that,@ he commented.”

Naomi Osaka in 2020

Now ranked no.3, the Japanese played her last match on the 12^th of September when she overcame Victoria Azarenka 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 6^th career title.

At the moment, during this season Naomi has managed to achieve a 16-3 win-loss record. Osaka clinched 1 title at the U.S. Open. Naomi was the finalist in New York.

Karolina Pliskova in 2020

Currently ranked no.6, the Czech played her last match on the 22^nd of October when she was overcome by Veronika Kudermetova 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the 2^nd round in Ostrava (draw).

Currently, during this year Karolina has a compiled 14-8 record. Karolina has won 1 title in Brisbane. Karolina reached the final in Rome.

Naomi Osaka and Karolina Pliskova faced off 5 times. The head to head is 3-2 for Pliskova. The last time they squared off, Karolina Pliskova won 6-7¹⁰ 7-6³ 6-2 in the semifinal in Brisbane (Brisbane International) on the 11^th of January 2020.

In the following video you can watch the highlights.