Naomi Osaka announces she is no longer working with coach Patrick Mouratoglou
'Merci Patrick,' Osaka began her post, with a photo of her hitting a practice serve while he stands nearby. 'It was such a great experience learning from you. Wishing you nothing but the best. You are one of the coolest people I've ever met and I'm sure I'll see you around.'
The news comes after Osaka lost her second match at the D.C. Open and just before she begins competing in Toronto. The U.S. Open, the year's last major tournament and an event Osaka won twice, begins in New York on Aug. 24.
Osaka hired Mouratoglou — who was the longtime coach of Serena Williams — when she fired Wim Fissette shortly after her second-round exit at last year's U.S. Open.
Osaka, a former No. 1, is currently ranked 51st and has a 21-11 record this season.
She hasn't been past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament since winning the 2021 Australian Open.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Craig Counsell's reaction to Vaughn grand slam becomes instant internet hit
Craig Counsell hasn't lost a step when it comes to swift reactions or meme generation. A camera shot of Andrew Vaughn's grand slam against the Cubs on July 29 had an amazing postscript, with the camera panning to Counsell in the Cubs dugout as he immediately picked up the bullpen phone while the ball was in flight. Counsell had just seen Vaughn's swing turn a 5-2 game in the sixth into a 9-2 laugher, and the skipper was already putting the wheels in motion to get relief pitcher Brooks Kriske warming as a replacement for Ryan Pressly. Needless to say, Counsell knew the ball was gone. It's not unusual for Counsell to move quickly toward the phone cradle, with a Brewers player hitting a grand slam, no less. In 2023, when Mark Canha hit an epic September grand slam to break a tie in the eighth, Counsell — still the Brewers manager at the time — could be spotted in the background sprinting toward the bullpen phone, presumably to call off a higher-leverage reliever. Even when the bullpen phone isn't working, Counsell has a Plan B, like when his creative hand gestures helped summon Brent Suter into a 2022 game. This particular instance became a perfect grace note for Brewers fans, who have now seen the Brewers explode offensively against the former Central frontrunner Cubs and the former Brewers manager on back-to-back nights. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Craig Counsell's reaction to Vaughn grand slam becomes internet hit
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sevastova topples Pegula to book date with Osaka, Swiatek advances in Montreal
Anastasija Sevastova stunned two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Friday to book a fourth-round clash with Naomi Osaka at the WTA Canadian Open. Sevastova, a former world No. 11 now ranked 386th, snapped fourth-ranked Pegula's 11-match WTA Canada win streak, the longest since Serena Williams reeled off 14 consecutive wins in 2011, 2013 and 2014. She will try to extend her Montreal run in a round of 16 meeting with Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion from Japan who ousted another Latvian, 22nd seed Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2, 6-4. "Somehow, I was down 2-0 in the second set and started to play better and better," Sevastova said. "Third set I played really good. "Just trying to stay on the court as long as possible," added Sevastova, who has dealt with injury since returning from maternity leave in February 2024. In the night session, second-seeded Iga Swiatek -- playing her first tournament since winning Wimbledon -- raced into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Germany's Eva Lys. Swiatek next faces Denmark's Clara Tauson, who beat Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3, 6-0. Pegula, last year's US Open runner-up in her best Slam showing, was the first woman to win back to back Canadian Open titles since Martina Hingis in 1999-2000. But she has struggled in recent months, dropping her openers at Wimbledon and at Washington last week. The American broke to open the match and again at love to claim the first set. But she couldn't maintain an early break in the second, with Sevastova breaking for a 5-4 lead and denying Pegula on three break chances before holding in the final game to force a third set in which she seized a 4-1 lead on the way to victory. - 'Weird match' - "It was a weird match for me," Pegula said. "I felt like I had total control and then I just played a couple of terrible games for, like, three games. "That totally flipped the momentum of the match, and I went from being up a set and 2-0 to being down very quickly. "I don't really feel like I'm playing great tennis," Pegula admitted. "At times I am, but I feel very up and down, kind of sloppy, which I don't like. I've got to figure it out." Osaka, twice a winner at both the US and Australian Opens, is one match away from her first quarter-final run at either a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 event since she returned from maternity leave at the start of 2024. Now ranked 49th, Osaka broke on a double fault to capture the first set in 30 minutes and raced to a 3-1 lead in the second. They exchanged breaks before Osaka served for the match with a 5-3 lead, but Ostapenko saved a match point on a forehand crosscourt winner and broke when Osaka sent a forehand beyond the baseline. The Japanese star responded by breaking Ostapenko at love in the final game. "I went in there knowing she's a great player and if I give her a chance she's going to hit a winner on me, so I just tried to keep my pace and stay as solid as I could," Osaka said. Australian Open champion Madison Keys, seeded sixth, beat fellow American Caty McNally 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and will next meet Karolina Muchova, a 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-3 winner over Belinda Bencic. Fifth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, regrouping this week after a crushing 6-0, 6-0 loss to Swiatek in the Wimbledon final, swept past Britain's Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-1. She lined up a meeting with Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who beat Russian Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-1. bb/jgc
20 hours ago
2-time defending champion Jessica Pegula upset by Sevastova in 3rd round in Montreal
MONTREAL -- Two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula was eliminated in the third round of the National Bank Open, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Anastasija Sevastova on Friday. Sevastova, a 35-year-old from Latvia who was ranked 11th in 2018 but has fallen to 386th, broke the third-seeded Pegula six times on 10 chances. 'Somehow, I was down 2-0 in the second set and started to play better and better,' Sevastova said. 'Third set, I played really good. 'Just trying to stay on the court as long as possible.' Sevastova is the lowest-ranked player to beat a top-10 player since Angelique Kerber edged Jelena Ostapenko last year at Indian Wells. Sevastova has played 24 WTA Tour-level matches in four years. She got a spot in the main draw with a protected ranking because of a knee injury. The loss continued a poor run for the fourth-ranked Pegula, who won her opener in Montreal over Maria Sakkari of Greece, but exited Wimbledon and the D.C. Open after one match in July. Sevastova will take on Naomi Osaka, who moved to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Osaka, a former No. 1-ranked player from Japan, is playing her first tournament with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, She had five aces and converted 6 of 9 break-point opportunities to win the match in 1 hour, 12 minutes. 'She broke me a couple times, but she's a really good returner, so I can't take that personally," Osaka said. "I went in there knowing she's a great player, and if I give her a chance she's going to hit a winner on me, so I just tried to keep my pace and stay as solid as I could.' Sixth-seeded Madison Keys beat fellow American Caty McNally 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. 'Today I did a good job of bouncing back after the first set,' Keys said. 'Let go of the first set and move on. Happy I was able to do that.' In other daytime results, 16th-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark rolled to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva. Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek, the tournament's No. 2 seed, headlined the night session. She was scheduled to face Eva Lys of Germany.
