"Still bitter Victoria Azarenka fired you?", "Just being messy, grow up" - Fans react to Serena Williams’ former hitting partner's dig at Belarusian

Victoria Azarenka's former hitting partner Sascha Bajin recently took a dig at her regarding her heated exchange with coach Maxime Tchoutakian at the ongoing Italian Open. Fans gave their two cents on this.

24th seed Azarenka bowed out of the women's singles draw in Rome with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat at the hands of 13th seed Danielle Collins in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 15.

The Belarusian notably had an emotional meltdown when she was trailing 1-4 in the second set, as she lashed out at her coach Tchoutakian, who tried to rally her with his encouraging cheers. She, however, wasn't in the mood and replied:

"What do you want me to come on? What do you want me to come on?"

At this, Sascha Bajin, who previously coached Naomi Osaka to two Grand Slam titles, took to X (formerly Twitter) and sarcastically called Victoria Azarenka a "nice person".

"Yeah she is such a nice person," Bajin wrote with a 'rolling eyes' emoji.

Bajin has notably landed in trouble with his comment as tennis fans on X slammed him for targeting the two-time Grand Slam champion.

"I know you’re not coming for Vika !! Still bitter that she [Victoria Azarenka] fired you ?? Maybe become a better coach and more importantly a better person so you can find some stability on tour instead of relying on ur history with Serena to continue getting coaching jobs," a fan wrote.

"See now you’re just being a messy bottom. Grow up," wrote another.

Following are a few more reactions from X:

"You didn’t enjoy your stint coaching her [Victoria Azarenka], huh," a fan stated.

"Wow Sascha. As a former coach. That is really going low," a fan commented.

"This should help get you a new coaching gig in no time," a fan quipped.

"dude don't you have players you could coach? like get over the past," a fan commented.

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Victoria Azarenka and Sascha Bajin worked together in 2015 and 2016

Sascha Bajin

Victoria Azarenka and Sascha Bajin had a brief stint as teammates as the two worked on improving the former's rallies in 2015 and 2016. Azarenka won a total of three singles titles during her time with Bajin. This included winning the WTA 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Miami in 2016, thus completing the Sunshine Double.

Azarenka's defeat at the Italian Open takes her win-loss tally to 20-10 so far in 2024. Her best performance so far is reaching the semifinals of the Miami Open.

The Belarusian is currently ranked 24th in the world and is next scheduled to compete at the French Open, where she hasn't gone past the fourth round since her run to the semifinals in 2013.