Osaka News

millicurie999

millicurie999

Semi-Pro
NuBas said:
Yeah being the type of person she is, I think even a million would satisfy. Maybe MatsPhilander should try to join the WTA and win a grand slam so he can maximize his marketability :sneaky:
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I am sure any marketing person worth his/her salt can utilize her persona to run an "authenticity campaign".
 
Tennease

Tennease

Legend
Sorry if this has been posted before. I didn't realize someone else has posted that TIME magazine cover photo. This thread has so many pages already I'm having a hard time to keep up :eek:

 
S

Soianka

Hall of Fame
Wander said:
There was an article on the Wall Street Journal that said that USTA did eventually offer to support Naomi when she was 16 but by that time she was long since committed to the Japan Tennis Federation.

But let's be honest, it is more or less impossible to tell which kid is going to be the next big thing when they are 10-15 years old. Chris Evert saw Naomi, Sloane, Madison and others practice at the same facility when they were teenagers and said that Naomi, at the time, did not stand out:
"She had a lot of raw talent and she hit the ball a ton, but she wasn't moving and she was making a lot of errors."
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A lot might have to do with the mental constitution of the player. Madison has all the talent in the world, but it's doubtful she'll ever win a slam or really dominate the tour. But the USTA put their money on Madison.
 
NuBas

NuBas

Legend
Check out her career statistics thus far (Wikipedia)

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G

greenjam

New User
So Naomi has this thing where she's won 60 straight matches after taking the first set.
Who holds the record for winning the most matches after winning the first set?
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Raiden said:
lol Everyone comin out of the woodwork pretending they saw this coming

bullsh*t

Not sure why everybody is assuming that they had a bust-up of some sort. Even that is not necessarily the case. It may just be as simple as that they couldn't agree on an extension of contract. Remember Sasha was hired around this time last year (dec. 2017) so perhaps they extended that a little bit to cover this year's AO slam but eventually failed to come to terms with a full length extension.
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So you are saying Sasha wanted the Premium biggest contract in WTA coach just like Gilbert demanded from Agassi and got. and Naomi wouldn't give it to him... Somehow, I can't believe Sasha wouldn't take little less and stay put since he is now getting mega media attention now.
 
-NN-

-NN-

G.O.A.T.
This was predictable and expected and there were warning signs apparent every time she was asked about him or mentioned him.


Wonder what exactly went down and what the dynamic was...
 
Raiden

Raiden

Hall of Fame
Nostradamus said:
So you are saying Sasha wanted the Premium biggest contract in WTA coach just like Gilbert demanded from Agassi and got. and Naomi wouldn't give it to him... Somehow, I can't believe Sasha wouldn't take little less and stay put since he is now getting mega media attention now.
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Why not? It happens all the time

This is WTA, where coach-swapping is an Olympic sport. Didn't Kerber win Wimbledon and then fire Fissette one week before YEC? Both saubsequently admitting that they couldn't come to terms with an extension. Just the other day Sloane and Kamau Murray split.

The steady ones at the top, (like Serena and Mugs) are the exception not the rule.
 
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upchuck

upchuck

Hall of Fame
Can't believe they are parting ways. I had this image of them being together forever. More importantly, I thought he was key in the development of her game. He took all the lessons he learned from Serena and used it to make Naomi a dominant player. It's crazy.
 
I

ihitlikeagirl

Semi-Pro
-NN- said:
This was predictable and expected and there were warning signs apparent every time she was asked about him or mentioned him.


Wonder what exactly went down and what the dynamic was...
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i did see tiny signs though on my end don't know if i predicted it. I have some weird feeling that he is the difficult one in general on the regular. She may have been changed by her recent success but if i was to guess who the diva was, i'd guess him :)
 
EkVraNaamEnVan

EkVraNaamEnVan

New User
Nostradamus said:
This is betrayer at its best. Take the girl to the top and win not 1 but 2 majors and this is how she treats you. Naomi needs to learn from Nishikori and learn what loyalty is all about. Kei had same coach(useless) for last 30 years, Dante. Kei knows what loyalty is all about................
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Muguruza can learn from Naomi not Kei.

Anyway, during the AO, there was a weird vibe. When asked about Sascha in interviews, her saying she has not spoken to him, her not really thanking him when she won as she did the previous times, leaving him cold while he was talking to her during a practice session to go sign autographs. Something was up.
 
TennisLBC

TennisLBC

Professional
Madison Keys need to do whatever it takes to hire Sasha, but only if she's interested in winning Slams.

Timing is strange. She has first big title defense at IW where coaching is allowed.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Raiden said:
Why not? It happens all the time

This is WTA, where coach-swapping is an Olympic sport. Didn't Kerber win Wimbledon and then fire Fissette one week before YEC? Both saubsequently admitting that they couldn't come to terms with an extension.

The steady ones at the top, (like Serena and Mugs) are the exception not the rule.
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Yes I agree. it is so COLD. It's worse than your girlfriend or fiancée dumping you with Text message. How can a human being be so cold ? Naomi is still a childish brat. She needs to learn about harshness of life and what being loyal to good people is all about.............. Kei know,, Kei know... he kept on Dante for 30 years......... What a truly loyal friend.
 
MrFancypants

MrFancypants

New User
Nostradamus said:
Yes I agree. it is so COLD. It's worse than your girlfriend or fiancée dumping you with Text message. How can a human being be so cold ? Naomi is still a childish brat. She needs to learn about harshness of life and what being loyal to good people is all about.............. Kei know,, Kei know... he kept on Dante for 30 years......... What a truly loyal friend.
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Is this guy for real?
 
oldmanfan

oldmanfan

Legend
Ahh, this sux!

Hopefully it's not about the money. And if it is about the money, hopefully it's not a high # from Sascha. If true, that situation irks me (probably the same reason Stephens' coach was on 'break'). These coaches are paid to 'improve' their game so that they can win more. Once they started to win, they then ask for sky high prices? I mean, hello! You were PAID to do that, but now you want bonuses on top? Again, I hope that's not the case bc Sascha seems a like a cool chap.
 
MatsPhilander

MatsPhilander

Legend
NuBas said:
WTF this is strange! I wanna know the true story, not gossip but just the reason why? ....
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Possibly her parents sticking their nose in? Maybe she is just a user who got a big head like Bouchard, Ostapenko after finding success, not wanting to believe that that person is the one that bought them to the dance.
 
G

glenWs

Semi-Pro
Nostradamus said:
Yes I agree. it is so COLD. It's worse than your girlfriend or fiancée dumping you with Text message. How can a human being be so cold ? Naomi is still a childish brat. She needs to learn about harshness of life and what being loyal to good people is all about.............. Kei know,, Kei know... he kept on Dante for 30 years......... What a truly loyal friend.
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Yes, I think they may have “gotten too close.” Perhaps crossed the line between teacher and student.
 
S

Soianka

Hall of Fame
oldmanfan said:
Ahh, this sux!

Hopefully it's not about the money. And if it is about the money, hopefully it's not a high # from Sascha. If true, that situation irks me (probably the same reason Stephens' coach was on 'break'). These coaches are paid to 'improve' their game so that they can win more. Once they started to win, they then ask for sky high prices? I mean, hello! You were PAID to do that, but now you want bonuses on top? Again, I hope that's not the case bc Sascha seems a like a cool chap.
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You should get paid more when you are coaching the #1 player in the world.
 
oldmanfan

oldmanfan

Legend
Soianka said:
You should get paid more when you are coaching the #1 player in the world.
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Agreed on a pay raise. The question is how much more? Sometimes people ask for too much. Do I think Sascha helped Naomi? Definitely! Do I think that help should change his coaching salary into 2-3x as much? Nope. Bc what if the results had stayed the same or worse, would Sascha take a pay cut? Nope.

I think the biggest help Sascha did in regards to Naomi's game is the 'mentality' to not hit winners on every shot, but to rally more and then pick and choose for a good ball to hit. Also, it helps that he was being a 'friend' to Osaka, an introvert. Before hiring Sascha, Osaka already has a world-beater game and is on the cusp of breaking through. Look at her IW18 win, months after hiring Sascha. It's not like she had weak ground strokes and serve before hiring him. No matter how good a coach is, I simply don't think they can turn a nobody into a convincing-winner of IW18, winning 7 matches beating 3 former/current world #1, and a former world #2 (IW18 was arguably the toughest win for Naomi between IW18/USO18/AO19).

So yes, Sascha deserves a pay raise, but not by a ridiculous amount (we don't know if it's even related to money btw).

Oh well. It's done. They moved on. Maybe we should too. ;)
 
T

tennis tom

Legend
Her coach is probably compensated on a percentage of winnings. E-mail her management company and let us know what they tell you--inquiring minds want to know.
 
underground

underground

G.O.A.T.
It's obvious there are some issues with the two working together, and to me it just seems like Naomi doesn't want to talk about it to pay respect for Sasha taking her to the world's top.
 
T

tennis tom

Legend
Well that 'splains it--snowflake--hope the people guiding her are looking out for her best interest--are there any interviews with her parents? They may be able to 'splain things better--if I may surmise, maybe Sasha went "behind her back" and spoke to her parents because she wasn't able to handle coaching that she perceived as criticism--just a guess given what was "revealed"--on the superficial face of it Sasha seems like a "nice enough guy".
 
EloQuent

EloQuent

Legend
-NN- said:
She wants a coach who is direct and straight-up, which implies to me that Sascha is not?
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But she doesn't want negative energy, which implies that he was too harsh. Kind of a weird combination of complaints - be direct but hold back your criticism.

My guess is that she's young and still figuring out all the pressure and somehow identified Sascha, fairly or not, as the problem.
 
-NN-

-NN-

G.O.A.T.
EloQuent said:
But she doesn't want negative energy, which implies that he was too harsh. Kind of a weird combination of complaints - be direct but hold back your criticism.

My guess is that she's young and still figuring out all the pressure and somehow identified Sascha, fairly or not, as the problem.
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Yeah it's a strange one but that negative energy might not be about criticism in the context of a tennis match or talks of tennis tactics and application but the aura created through indirect communication. Dunno.
 
EloQuent

EloQuent

Legend
-NN- said:
Yeah it's a strange one but that negative energy might not be about criticism in the context of a tennis match or talks of tennis tactics and application but the aura created through indirect communication. Dunno.
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Could have been something like this- Sascha gave her very pointed criticism, she didn't take it well, so next time he went to someone else in the team to talk it and she found out. Who knows, just a guess.

Either way it doesn't sound like something terrible he did, just a personality clash.
 
NuBas

NuBas

Legend
Without reading the article above and just watching the interview clip. I think she wants someone with more detailed information instead of Sascha who just said stuff like "get under the ball more" he might be too vague for her which is understandable from both sides. He might think that Osaka doesn't need too much information while Osaka feels like she needs more details.

I think Osaka is finally understanding what she wants out of a coach having gone through this, which is good. If she knew beforehand she needed more information in detail she might not have worked with Sascha.
 
Mark-Touch

Mark-Touch

Legend
greenjam said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1097113254571241472

"I think my reason is I wouldn’t put success over my happiness."

She kinda says the reason without saying what the reason is. :unsure:
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Not if you are able to read between the lines.

Interpretation:
"Putting success over happiness means, winning at all costs, doing things I'm not comfortable at doing, just to guarantee success.
I'd rather be a happy individual than win at any cost."
 
EloQuent

EloQuent

Legend
Mark-Touch said:
Not if you are able to read between the lines.

Interpretation:
"Putting success over happiness means, winning at all costs, doing things I'm not comfortable at doing, just to guarantee success.
I'd rather be a happy individual than win at any cost."
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i don't know where you see that. The simple interpretation is that Sascha made her unhappy and she'd rather fire her coach and lose than be unhappy and win.
 
Mark-Touch

Mark-Touch

Legend
EloQuent said:
i don't know where you see that. The simple interpretation is that Sascha made her unhappy and she'd rather fire her coach and lose than be unhappy and win.
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This is what she said in her tweet:
"I think my reason is I wouldn’t put success over my happiness."

I simplified what she said, that's all.
 
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