World No.1 Naomi Osaka announced on social media that Jermaine Jenkins who was recently hired as the United States Tennis Association national coach for women’s tennis has joined her team as the new coach.
“Had a great dinner with the team”, the 21-year-old Osaka said in a Twitter post. “Also taking this moment to thank Jermaine for joining us and coming on board lol.”
Osaka’s agent also confirmed the fact to The Associated Press on Thursday that Jenkins started working with Naomi Osaka. The move arrives surprisingly two weeks after she split from the coach Sascha Bajin, who previously worked with Venus Williams.
She split from Bajin after winning the Australian Open to secure her second straight Grand Slam title, moving her to the top of the WTA ranking for the first time.
“It is not ideal to go to Indian Wells without a coach”, Osaka told.
Jermaine Jenkins is the former US collegiate star who served as the hitting partner to Venus Williams from 2015 and his younger brother Jarmere is Serena Williams’s hitting partner.
