Mouratoglou praises Osaka’s level and determination: “This will pay off soon”
After a tearful first-round loss, Naomi Osaka hinted at letting down Patrick Mouratoglou. “I haven’t been able to help bring you where you deserve to be,” the coach responded
Patrick Mouratoglou, Roland-Garros 2025 | © Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors
One of the most striking moments at the French Open on Monday came when Naomi Osaka broke down in tears, blaming herself for her loss to Paula Badosa.
She said : “I hate disappointing people. Patrick goes from working with the greatest player ever—Serena [Williams]—to, like, ‘What the f*** is this?’ You know what I mean?”
Eighteen hours later, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou, co-founder of Tennis Majors, took to Instagram to take the blame himself, saying: “I haven’t been able to help bring you where you deserve to be.”
Mouratoglou to Osaka : “You can be proud of yourself”
Speaking directly to Osaka, he wrote : “You can be proud of yourself, Naomi. The effort, the work, the heart you put into this are amazing. Considering all that, I haven’t been able to help bring you where you deserve to be.
“But I have no doubt this will pay off soon. It’s like building a house—you’ve laid the foundations, but until it’s complete, you can’t see the full beauty of the structure. To be continued…”
In a private chat with early buyers of his book on Thursday, Mouratoglou elaborated on her progress: “The quality she shows in practice now compared to even three months ago is a huge improvement. I know great results are coming. I can’t say whether it’ll be tomorrow—you never know exactly when things will click—but we’ll get there.”
“She’s changed a lot since we started in September. I’m not saying she didn’t have it before, but she’s definitely raised the bar.”
He described their main focus areas: “Her low level was just too low. I’d seen too many matches where, on a bad day, she’d hit unforced errors and lose. I told her the same thing I once told Serena: you’re losing too many of those matches—we’re going to fix that.”
We worked a lot on consistency—being able to hit the ball hard, as she knows how to, but with control.
“So we worked a lot on consistency—being able to hit the ball hard, as she knows how to, but with control. Clay is the perfect surface for finding that balance. And we’re getting there. She’s now won eight matches in a row on clay. Before this, her record was just three.”
He also emphasised the importance of their decision to go and play the WTA 125 event in Saint-Malo : “Of course, the first one was a lower-level tournament (Saint-Malo 125), but you have no idea how much it helped her—both for confidence and for her understanding of the game.”
In 2025 so far, Naomi Osaka has played eight tournaments. She won Saint-Malo, reached the final in Auckland, made the round of 16 in Miami, and reached the third round in Melbourne—her best Grand Slam result of the year. Her 2025 record stands at 17 wins and 8 losses.
