According to tennis.com on Sunday, women’s world number six Karolina Pliskova of Louny, Czech Republic has split with her coach, Dani Vallverdu, and has named Sascha Bajin of Germany as her new coach for the 2021 WTA season. Bajin, who is a native of Serbia, but calls Munich home, has previously coached three high-performance players over the last four years. They are Naomi Osaka of Japan, Kristina Mladenovic of France, and Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.
Bajin was the coach of Osaka for her first two grand slam titles. Osaka defeated American women’s tennis legend Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the 2018 United States Open, and then Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 in the final of the 2019 Australian Open. Osaka and Bajin then parted ways in February of 2019. When Osaka won the 2020 United States Open, she had Wim Fissette of Belgium as her coach.
Pliskova meanwhile, is a grand slam finalist and former World Number One. Her grand slam final came in 2016, when she lost to Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final of the United States Open.
Despite never winning a major as of yet, Pliskova has won 16 WTA tournaments in her career. The most notable events were the 2016 Cincinnati Open, where she beat Kerber in the final, 6-3, 6-1, and the 2019 Italian Open, where she beat Johanna Konta of Great Britain, 6-3, 6-4.
In 2020, Pliskova won one women’s tournament. That came at the Brisbane International where she beat Madison Keys of the United States in the final, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Interestingly, Pliskova has won the Brisbane International thrice, more than any other women’s tennis tournament. She previously beat Alize Cornet of France 6-0, 6-3 in the final in 2017, and Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, in the final of 2019.
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