Sascha Bajin at Kasi live: "Another eight years Serena? I'm not sure"
On Sunday evening, Kasi hosted one of the most successful coaches on Instagram ( tennisnetnews ) with Sascha Bajin .
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 30, 2020, 05:50 pm
Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach / Florida: Sascha Bajin sits relaxed on the couch in front of a framed photo of his ex-boss Serena Williams when Christopher Kas rings the bell. The mood? Dazzling! Bajin loves chatting about tennis, it will become 100 percent clear in the next few minutes.
The photo of Williams in the background, it is emblematic. Because without Serena, Bajin would not have ended up as a coach on the tour. When Serena was looking for a hitting partner, he was out in the evening. Could he step in with Serena for a colleague ..? "First I said no," admits Bajin, who was working in a Munich club at the time. "I gave hours, played prize tournaments, set up networks, cut down trees, I was like a caretaker," he says.
Then the eight most legendary years of his life began. "I don't think there is any higher pressure anywhere, non-stop than in the Serena team. Everything has to be perfect," he says. "It can't be that she's waiting a minute for a car." The pressure on Serena? Probably a lot higher. "If she's one sentence behind, I get a thousand text messages: What's going on with Serena?" He often had to calm down there. And says: "I've learned so much from her!" And although Bajin has nothing but praise for his ex-boss, he doesn't really know whether he would do this job again with today's knowledge. "Would I do it again for eight years? I'm not sure."
Bajin on Osaka: "Would have been much easier to give in"
Bajin also has nothing but praise for ex-protégé Caroline Wozniacki . "A real sports woman, really professional. If you play like her, and not this talent, you have to be a workhorse," he explains.
After Wozniacki, the call came from Team Osaka, just 30 minutes from where he lived. "I just tried it and saw what kind of ball she played." He just continued the mindset of going to tournaments to win them with Osaka (then number 72 in the world). The following year she won Indian Wells and the scandal final against Williams . "There are situations in life that you cannot prepare for. You can see which wood you are made of," Bajin still praises Osaka's dealings with the New York audience. "It would have been much easier for them to give in and break in."
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Tennis coach is of course a "very success-driven job, four or five first round defeats - and you will be questioned," Bajin knows. But: "If you really love something, you will also be successful with it."
Bajin would also train a dog
His current protégé: Dayana Yastremska, "one machine, one bundle of energy," says Bajin, who has not extended his expired contract with Kiki Mladenovic for the young Ukrainian. It was the first time that the decision had been his and it was very difficult for him. "But as a coach, I thought Dayana was a better match."
"It's always easier to work with someone you have to brake. Or just steer - don't push," he praises Yastremska's energy.
Why has he only coached women in recent years? It was more of a coincidence that there were some offers from men, so far it simply hadn't worked, said the 35-year-old, who is open to everything. "If a dog can play tennis well, I train him too."
It continues with Kasi live on Instagram on Monday evening (6 p.m.) - then with Nicolas Massu , the coach of Dominic Thiem. There are also clubs from Thiem and Alexander Zverev to be won. Switch on Instagram on tennisnetnews !