Naomi Osaka reunites with performance coach Zitzelsberger
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3761598/ ... zelsberger
Naomi Osaka Toray 2022
As Naomi Osaka plots her 2024 comeback to the Hologic WTA Tour, the former No.1 has reunited the team at the helm when she stepped away two years ago. In addition to rehiring coach Wim Fissette, Osaka also brought back performance coach Florian Zitzelsberger, who oversees all aspects of her health and fitness.
It's a challenge that the experienced German is happy to take on.
"It's an interesting journey for me because the work we started was not quite finished“, Zitzelsberger told WTA Insider. "Now we have the chance.“
"Naomi is a pure talent, quite unbelievable. But still, I see a lot of athletic potential that we can work on. First and foremost, she has to stay healthy, but on the other side, there is so much potential to nurture, strengthen and conquer."
Zitzelsberger has spent the past eight years treating and managing bodies on the ATP and WTA Tours. After finishing his studies in 2014, he began his career working with Chanelle Scheepers before she passed his number to fellow South African Kevin Anderson. From there, things quickly escalated.
"Two days later, I was sitting at the Queen's final, where Kevin was playing against Andy Murray," Zitzelsberger said. "I wanted to focus on performance coaching because I like to help people, to make athletes and human beings reach their greatest potential. I want to help them achieve overall health and to show them how to live a healthy life and get more athletic, day to day."
With his experience working on the WTA Tour with Julia Goerges, Petra Kvitova, Petra Martic and a host of athletes across sports at the Integralis clinic he co-founded with Daniel Pohl, Zitzelsberger is now super motivated to help Osaka reach her goals.
"With Naomi, I am the head of health and performance," Zitzelsberger said. "I'm a strength and conditioning coach, athletic coach, a physiotherapist and an osteopath. I analyze the biomechanics and work to improve the tennis-specific biomechanics.
"From there, I also cover nutrition, which is fundamental for building and maintaining a strong, athletic body. And being an osteopath, I always try to balance out the whole body and being through my treatments. When I'm treating as an osteopath, I'm not treating myofascial muscles or joints. I'm one layer deeper. I'm treating organs, nerves and arteries."
one step at a time
pic.twitter.com/LJOgG4RMSJ
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) October 25, 2023
The most immediate challenge for Zitzelsberger is building up Osaka's physicality to lay a stable foundation for her targeted return to competition in January.
"The combination of the pelvis and the trunk together is the power center of the whole athlete," Zitzelsberger said.
"[During pregnancy], this power center is not meant to create power but rather preparing a home for a healthy baby. The abdominal wall has to be lengthened and stretched in order for the babys proper development.
"You lose a lot of core strength. By losing the core strength, a lot of the movement chains are getting a little bit irritated. This is the biggest challenge is getting this back: getting powerful hips and getting better stabilization again."
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While the challenge is apparent, Zitzelsberger and Fissette are revealing in the opportunity as well.
Players rarely have extended blocks of time out of competition to work on physical or technical fundamentals. But Team Osaka will have had a four-month pre-season before boarding the plane to Australia.
"Knowing her, she just wants to go back on court and play a lot of tennis," Zitzelsberger said. "But we have a long-term plan. The most important thing is maintaining her health.
"I really credit Wim, because some coaches would just push every day to play on the court, to have a lot of tennis time. But he wants maximum quality in the strokes on the court, and then we go to the gym and do the work to get her healthy, to have her in a stable position. We know exactly where we want to be in one month, in two months and further into the future.“
The key to putting Osaka back on a successful track is tamping down any sense of urgency. When she returns in January, she will be one of the growing number of mothers on tour, joining the likes of former No.1s Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, and Wimbledon semifinalists Elina Svitolina and Tatjana Maria. The last player to win a major or become No.1 as a mom was Kim Clijsters.
In recent years, the most successful moms on the Grand Slam stage have been Azarenka, who Osaka beat in the 2020 US Open final, and Osaka's idol Serena Williams, who made four major finals in her comeback.
"At the moment, the biggest focus is not tennis," Zitzelsberger said. "The biggest focus is just bringing her back to a really athletic and healthy state, while we can now work on court.
From the tennis side, Wim now has the chance to work on things that we always wanted to work on but didn't get the time before."
