Naomi Osaka has enlisted the help of one of Poland’s most well-known tennis coaches for a trial period.
The four-time Grand Slam champion is pairing up with Tomasz Wiktorowski for this week’s National Bank Open, a WTA 1000 event. Wiktorowski has worked with his country’s two most successful female players in the Open era. Between 2011 and 2018, he coached Agnieszka Radwańska, who reached world No.2 and the final at Wimbledon under his guidance. More recently, he mentored former world No.1 Iga Swiatek for three years between 2021 and 2024. Between those two players, he also coached Olga Danilović.
Osaka’s decision to test the waters with Wiktorowski comes after the departure of Patrick Mouratoglou from her team. She had been working with the Frenchman since last September.
“Merci Patrick,” Osaka wrote on social media. “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.”
Currently ranked 49th in the world, the 27-year-old has a win-loss record of 17-11 and has won 10 out of 11 matches against players ranked outside the top 100 this year. She began her campaign in Montreal on Monday with a 6-4, 6-2, win over Canada’s Ariana Arseneault.
“I haven’t been here since I was a teenager. A long time ago. It’s really nice to be back,” Osaka said of playing in Montreal for the first time since 2018.
Osaka has won seven WTA Tour titles so far in her career but her most recent triumph was in 2021 at the Australian Open. However, she has won a WTA 125 title this season on clay at the Open de Saint-Malo in France.
Osaka will next play 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova. She is yet to comment on her decision to start working with Wiktorowski.
AloJapan.com