At 20 years old, Naomi Osaka has really made a name for herself in tennis this year. She reached the semi-finals at Nottingham and won the BNP Parabis Open in Indian Wells to climb into the top 20 rankings. Now she has raised her profile even further by reaching the semi-final of the US Open, where she will play 14th seed Madison Keys.
Bajin reflects on the similar type of game between Williams and Osaka
Her coach Sascha Bajin has now compared Osaka to the queen of tennis herself, Serena Williams. He jokes about them both having big hair but then goes on to describe how their game is so similar: “I believe that they want to play the same. They are very powerful, big servers, big hitters, both of them. But even on the court, Serena is very aggressive, and Naomi, I have to push her to get a fist pump out of her.”
Osaka was Serena’s hitting partner
Osaka was the former hitting partner of Williams, so you would imagine that she picked up a thing or two by spending time watching her in action. At 36, Serena will be looking to retire at some point in the not too distant future, which leaves a huge gap in women’s tennis. Williams has dominated the game for so long and changed the perception of the sport forever. She has achieved what was considered unachievable.
Osaka needs more fire on the court
Osaka has got plenty of the tools needed to make it to the very top of the game, her coach just wants her to have more of Williams’ fire when she is on the court. All eyes will be on the young Japanese player as she bids to make it into the final, where she could very likely be playing Serena Williams.