Naomi Osaka is considered a highly talented player on the WTA tour. But when it comes to Tweener, the 20-year-old from Japan still has some catching up to do. Fortunately, there is a Daria Kasatkina. The Russian, who controls the stroke through her legs in the best possible way – and just gave Osaka a tutoring in Indian Wells.
It’s the stuff women friendships are made of. Plus, bitch war on the WTA tour. One of the others will help. Want proof? Naomi Osaka, one of the next-generation players in the circuit and number 44 in the ranking, just can’t manage to get a tweener in training in Indian Wells. The specialists for this technically sophisticated stroke are just not within reach: a Roger Federer, for example, the Maestro. Or a Nick Kyrgios, the wild ball virtuoso. Or an Agnieszka Radwanska, alternatively called “Ninja” or “The Professor”.
And here comes World Rankings 19. Daria Kasatkina. The right-handed woman from Togliatty is only 20 years old herself, but in the matter of Tweener, she seems to be already a felt tennis century further than Osaka. With the tips of Kasatkina it even works out for the Japanese girl, who is coached by Sascha Bajin from Munich. The girls also had fun at the special tutoring session in Indian Wells’ palm-fringed and paradisiacal tennis garden.
It remains to be seen what blow Osaka unpacks in a match against Dubai finalist Kasatkina, if she is sent on her journey by the Russian woman in praise…