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BSP-13
TENNIS-WTA-JPN-OSAKA
Top-ranked Osaka adds US coach Jenkins to team
LOS ANGELES, March 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – World number one Naomi Osaka
welcomed US coach Jermaine Jenkins to her team on Thursday, just in time for
her title defense at Indian Wells next week.
“Had a great dinner with the team,” Japan’s US and Australian Open
champion said in a Twitter post. “Also taking this moment to thank Jermaine
for joining us and coming on board lol.”
An article on the WTA website said Jenkins would fill the role of head
coach in the wake of Osaka’s shock split with coach Sascha Bajin just 17 days
after she won a second straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Jenkins, 34, is a former US collegiate star who served as hitting partner
to Venus Williams from 2015 until the end of last season.
His younger brother Jarmere is Serena Williams’s hitting partner.
In January, Jenkins was named by the US Tennis Association as a national
women’s coach.
Osaka, 21, said in Dubai last week that her split with Bajin was “kind of
brewing” in Melbourne and that she didn’t expect to be without a coach for
long.
“It’s not really ideal to go to Indian Wells without a coach,” she said.
Women’s main draw play in the combined WTA and ATP Masters event in the
California desert begins on March 6. Osaka like all the 32 seeded women will
enjoy a first-round bye.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1915HRS