Serena Williams & Naomi Osaka's ex-hitting partner joins Olympics silver medalist's team in big pre-season move

Croatian World No. 19 Donna Vekic has added Sascha Aleksander Bajin to her coaching team. The German played a key role in former World No. 1 players Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams' teams during some of their most memorable triumphs, including the Grand Slams.

Vekic, 28, has had a stellar season, rising to her highest-ever ranking of No. 18 in October. The highlight of her season came at the Olympics, where she won a Silver Medal, losing in the decider to China's Zheng Qinwen. She also made the semis at SW19, where she was edged out in a third-set tie-break by Italy's Jasmine Paolini.

The Olympian recently took to Instagram to announce Sascha Bajin's addition to her coaching team as she put up a picture with him on her story and captioned it:

"Welcome @bigsascha"

Donna Vekic welcomes German coach, Sascha Bajin, to her team - Source: @donnavekic on Instagram

The announcement comes days after Vekic ended her collaboration with Nikola Horvat. Apart from working with Williams and Osaka, the 40-year-old Bajin has experience coaching several other WTA stars, namely Kristina Mladenovic, Karolina Pliskova, Alycia Parks, and Dayana Yastremska.

Why Naomi Osaka broke off ties with Sascha Bajin

Bajin is best known for his coaching stints with Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams - Source: Getty

Sascha Bajin was considered instrumental in Naomi Osaka's meteoric rise to the top in 2018 when she climbed to the top of the world rankings. Apart from his time coaching Serena, Bajin arguably had the most fruitful stint with Osaka.

However, she announced her split from Bajin days after she won her first Australian Open in 2019.

As per 'Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice', a biography on the Japanese player authored by tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, Bajin was sacked after Osaka discovered he was dating a competitor and confronted him about it.

“Bajin, who had encouraged Naomi to hit with this player at a tournament despite her much lower ranking, denied it repeatedly," Rothenberg wrote (via Tennis Channel). "The next day, when Bajin came back and admitted it was true, Naomi told him her trust had been broken,” he added.

Osaka said that her trust in her coach had been broken. After her split from Bajin, Osaka would go on to win two more slams, namely the US Open in 2020 and the Australian Open in 2021.

After taking a hiatus in 2023, when she became a mother, Osaka, 27, launched a comeback bid in 2024. Despite ending her season early due to a back injury, Naomi Osaka has climbed up to No. 58 in the rankings this year.