Naomi Osaka’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently made a bold claim about the Japanese tennis star, who recently ended her four-year title drought. The French coach made this claim after she won her maiden clay-court title at the WTA 125K in Saint-Malo.
Osaka has been struggling to get back to her best level for a while now, as injuries and form struggles keep hampering her path. Hoping to turn her fortunes, she entered the 2025 Madrid Open to kick off her European clay swing. However, things went from bad to worse as she suffered an opening-round exit to Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets.
She then entered the WTA 125K in Saint-Malo to find her footing on clay, and the decision paid off big-time as the Japanese went on to end her four-year title drought and also win her first-ever title on clay. Seeded second, she defeated Kaja Juvan 6-1, 7-5 in the final. Though the former World No. 1 has been phenomenal on hardcourts and grass, she hasn’t performed on a similar level on clay.
Naomi Osaka’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently opined that it was the Japanese’s lack of game time on clay that was the reason she wasn’t doing well on clay. However, he feels that the 27-year-old earned some important game time with her campaign in Saint-Malo and should now exhibit her high-quality tennis on clay and take the fight to other stars.
“I think it’s just the fact that she’s never spent enough time on this surface. And that, historically, because she didn’t spend much time on the surface, she had a lot of losses there, so she probably thought her game wasn’t suited to clay. But there’s no obvious reason for her not to play well on this surface. So it was important to make a big block on clay. We did that. And it was important to have enough matches and positives on the surface. And that was done too. So I think she’s now ready to play her best tennis on clay,” he told Tennis Majors.
Continuing his thoughts, he also explained what he expected from the upcoming Italian Open and the French Open. She will kick things off at the Italian Open against Sara Errani.
“The expectation is for her to finally feel good on the surface, feel confident on the surface and play freely” – Naomi Osaka’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou
Naomi Osaka – Source: Getty
Naomi Osaka – Source: Getty
Speaking on the expectations he has from Naomi Osaka for the rest of the European clay swing, Patrick Mouratoglou said he feels the Japanese will be confident about her game, following a triumph. The French coach also felt she was playing at the caliber of a ‘Top five’ player on some days in Saint-Malo.
Well, the expectation is for her to finally feel good on the surface, feel confident on the surface and play freely, more freely. Because she has those beliefs that she can play well here. This week, there were some moments, during matches, where she played top five, without any doubt. So my expectation is just to go there and play and feel free and feel confident on the surface, and then we’ll see what happens.
Naomi Osaka shared a celebratory post on her Instagram following her Saint-Malo, joking how her first trophy upon return to tennis came on her worst surface. Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou sent her a congratulatory message, saying he was proud of her.
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