Naomi Osaka's decision to terminally end her association with former coach Sascha Bajin has remained a mystery for some time.
But her newly-released biography, titled "Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice," has put paid to rumors and speculation of the shocking end to their tennis relationship.
The book was written by tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg and was originally published on January 9th, 2024. As Osaka attempts to rekindle her tennis career after a maternity break, Rothenberg takes a deep dive into Osaka's tennis roots from a humble background.
Sensitive topics like social justice and mental health are also covered in what the American sportswriter called a "deeply rooted" and "revealing" biography. So, in a way, it made sense that some of the unanswered questions eventually had an exclamation point.
One of those questions was the manner in which Osaka parted company with Sascha Bajin, who had previously served as Serena Williams' longtime hitting partner. Osaka won two Grand Slams under the German coach. She defeated Serena Williams to win the 2018 US Open under Bajin's watch.
And at the start of 2019, she captured the Australian Open. But just a few days later, Osaka tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) announcing her decision to terminate Bajin's services, "Hey everyone, I will no longer be working together with Sascha. I thank him for his work and wish him all the best in the future."
An excerpt from Osaka's biography, as quoted on tennis.com, has lifted the lid on their surprise split. The book details that Bajin began dating a WTA player, who has not been named in the book, and which presented a conflict of interest in the Japanese star's eyes.
"Naomi confronted Bajin, breaking the weeks-long silence between the, putting him on the spot about what she’d heard about his off-court relationship with another player."
"Bajin, who had encouraged Naomi to hit with this player at a tournament despite her much lower ranking, denied it repeatedly. The next day, when Bajin came back and admitted it was true, Naomi told him her trust had been broken."
It will be fascinating to hear Osaka's views if she is questioned on this topic during her pre-tournament press conference at the 2024 Australian Open, where she will play her first Grand Slam tournament since 2022.
The former WTA No. 1 recently returned to action at the Brisbane International, where she played her first tournament since September 2022 but was knocked out in the second round by Karolina Pliskova. Osaka will face 16th seed Caroline Garcia in her first-round match in Melbourne.
0 Comments