Naomi Osaka has confirmed the appointment of Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou as her new trainer.
Osaka sacked her former coach, Wim Fissette last month in a bid to return to the top of her game after years of struggling.
She has now revealed that the need for change led to her decision to appoint Mouratoglou and described him as someone with a big persona.
Osaka said: “I like the way he coaches. I think it’s going to be interesting.
“I think I’m at a stage in my life that I don’t want to have regrets. I’d rather pull the trigger on something and I don’t want to say ‘fail’, but I feel like I need to learn as much as possible in this stage of my career.
“Patrick seemed like the guy with I guess the information that I wanted to learn from.”
Osaka revealed that she was initially sceptical of appointing Mouratoglou. He said: “I think the fact that he was Serena’s coach made me want to avoid him just because his persona is so big,
“Then I met him, talked to him, worked with him on the court. He is a really good coach. I’m really glad that he’s taking this project on as well.”
Osaka defeated Lucia Bronzetti of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the WTA 1000 China Open in her first match under the tutelage of Mouratoglou.
She will take on 21st seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in the second round of the China Open on Friday.
