Patrick Mouratoglou is a world-renowned tennis coach, and his latest assignment involved spending some time with Naomi Osaka.
In September 2024, Mouratoglou was appointed by Osaka to try to revive some stuttering form.
Things simply didn’t pan out, however, and earlier this year, Osaka announced that she’d split from Mouratoglou.
Osaka reached the semifinal of the US Open and showcased real evidence that she can once again be a Grand Slam champion in the future.
Mouratoglou has made no secret of the mistakes he made whilst working with Osaka, and now he’s opened up further on what went wrong.
Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty ImagesPatrick Mouratoglou shares the mistake he made with Naomi Osaka
Osaka has chosen to sit out the Billie Jean King Cup this time around after her exploits at the US Open.
The four-time Grand Slam champion couldn’t get beyond the third round of a major with Mouratoglou in her corner and decided to make the change.
It would appear that, although Mouratoglou liked working with Osaka, he wasn’t without fault, it would seem and if he could have the chance again there might be some things he’d do differently.
He said on the Business of Sport podcast: “When we started, Naomi started playing really, really well. But she got injured. Then it takes a lot of weeks to come back. In the first tournament of the year, she is in the final. Gets injured again. Then the Australian Open. Gets injured again. She was playing great, so I thought the most obvious thing is that we have to solve this issue and we solved that.
“When we solved that one or two matches, she did not compete well, in a way that I did not like, because I felt that she really didn’t compete.
“So we went through practice and I told her that we need to do better at practice, I explained to her what, and we started to do it. She then started to play unbelievably. At practice, her level was incredible. That was the second problem solved.
“Then she started to compete in a way that was not efficient. I had to solve that and this one I did not solve. And that is why we ended the relationship, by the way. I did not solve it because I did not realise, and I missed something, I would have found it with time, but I did not have enough. It was the effect of Serena.
“I did not realise it and I should have, that is why I am angry at myself on this one. Because I worked with Simona Halep after Serena, and the same thing happened.
“She did not compete well for two or three months but we had a very open relationship and she was open to me and talking. She said to me that it’s too much pressure, what you did with Serena is so unbelievable, I feel I need to do the same. So I realised it, because she said it very clearly, and I found a way to make her feel lighter and made her feel that I did not expect her to achieve anything, I just wanted her to express herself during matches.
“After that, she played the semis in Wimbledon, then won a Masters 1000 straight away.
“With Naomi, it was the same. She even said it publicly. She said in her press conference that ‘I feel bad for Patrick’ because he is used to winning so much, and I can’t win three matches in a row. It was too heavy. That’s why when we stopped to collaborate, straight away she could perform.
“Physically, she was ready, tennis-wise, she was so ready, and actually, I told her when we stopped ‘don’t worry, you are going to get results very, very soon because you are 100% ready. It is just about you expressing yourself during the matches’.
“And suddenly I wasn’t there, she didn’t have that expectation, and she started to perform incredibly well with a final in Montreal and then the semis at the US Open. But we had to stop the relationship, so she could play. I would have preferred to be able to find the solution.”
Mouratoglou shares what he would do if he coached Osaka again
Osaka was pleased with her run to the last four at the US Open, and new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski looks to have hit the ground running.
Mouratoglou will likely be back coaching in the New Year, and he’s also shared in this revealing interview what he would do with Osaka if he got the chance again.
He continued: “What I would have done is made her feel that I was zero affected or interested in her results, but more with her game development and her competing. That was it.
“I made a mistake, that is the truth. I am completely okay to say it. When she had those bad losses, when I felt that she didn’t really compete, I explained to her that this is not supposed to happen. You can’t do that.
“You can play badly and lose, and this is fine, but you cannot lose this way. You need to find a way to put the ball into the court. You need to start a battle.
“When I did this, she felt ‘he is so disappointed by me’ and this put extra pressure on her. So the way I did it was wrong. And I think she carried that throughout the next months. That was a mistake.”
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