Serena's hitting partner, Bajin, now with Azarenka

Serena Williams has stopped working with her longtime hitting partner, Sascha Bajin. Bajin shared the news on Twitter:

Williams responded with:

Bajin not only hit with Williams, but also helped coach her when her parents, Richard Williams and Oracene Price, weren’t with her at all of the tournaments. Bajin may now be working with Victoria Azarenka, as her tweet indicates:

Williams has said that Bajin is one of her closest friends. In 2010, Bajin was called her "touring coach." At that year's Australian Open, Williams won the tournament over Justine Henin. "I could see in her eyes how competitive she was," Bajin said then. "I fed her a her short ball and she didn’t stop, [she] attacked and came in straight to net and did her thing. You could tell she really wanted it, even though there was big pressure."

In the summer just after winning her 2010 Wimbledon title, Williams and Bajin were in Munich at a restaurant when Williams' cut her feet on glass. Serena later had foot surgery to repair the damage. In February of 2011, she had a pulmonary embolism and Bajin said he was with her at the hospital. In 2012, right after losing early at Roland Garros, Williams began to work with her current coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

Azarenka recently hired a new coach, Wim Fissette, and reached the final last week in Doha.