Naomi Osaka's coach Patrick Mouratoglou sends touching message to Japanese after her Miami Open exit

Naomi Osaka's coach Patrick Mouratoglou was all praise for her as she crashed out of the fourth round of the Miami Open. The former World No. 1 lost 6-3, 4-6, 4-6 against sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini in a high-intense match.

Osaka has shown promising signs in 2025 of coming back to her old form, but injuries have disrupted her progress. Twice the four-time Major champion had to retire from a match, once at the final of the ASB Classic and during her third-round match at the Australian Open.

However, at Miami, the 2022 finalist was slowly building up steam, winning against Yuliia Starodubtseva, Liudmila Samsonova, and Hailey Baptiste to reach the Round of 16. She started well against Paolini, breaking the Italian's serve three times to take the first set 6-3. However, she conceded an early break in both the second and third sets, and it was enough for Paolini to get past the finishing line.

After her loss, Osaka showed her appreciation for Miami and thanked the crowd for supporting her. Posting on Instagram she wrote:

"Miami I love you so much thank you for the energy and the memories, I’ll be back sooner than you think."

Replying to her post, Osaka's coach Patrick Mouratoglou sent her an encouraging message stating that her on-court performance had been good and was well on track to becoming great again.

"It was a high level match. You did good. Soon you will do great," he said.

Patrick Mouratoglou reacts to Naomi Osaka's loss at the Miami Open, (Source: Instagram)

Osaka has been working with Mouratoglou since last September, after letting go of her former coach Wim Fisette.

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Naomi Osaka faltered in pressure moments against Jasmine Paolini

In Picture: Naomi Osaka (Getty)

In her match against Paolini, Osaka was ahead on several metrics such as more service points won, and more return points won. Even in the case of total points won, Osaka's 55 percent was comfortably ahead of her Italian opponent's 45 percent.

What went against the Japanese player was her failure to clinch the pressure situations, especially the break point opportunities. Osaka generated 15 break points in the match but could only convert three of those in the first set. She got two and three break-point opportunities in the second and third sets, respectively, but failed to convert.

Osaka's serving was also not on point, as she could only win 57 percent of points behind her serve, winning only 42 percent of her second serve points. However, given how well she has been returning, if the former World No. 1 can better her serve and make a deep run at any of the upcoming claycourt events.