World No.1 Naomi Osaka made headlines when she announced that she hired Jermaine Jenkins as her new head coach as she gears up for her title defense at Indian Wells. For Jenkins, it is the next step on the path from collegiate star to celebrated hitting partner to top-tier coach.

34-year-old Jenkins broke through at Clemson University from 2003 to 2007, earning All-American and team MVP honors and serving as the team captain. Clemson participated in the NCAA tournament during his entire tenure at the university.

Jenkins is part of a rich familial history of collegiate tennis success: his brother Jackie, Jr., played at Northwestern University, while his younger brother Jarmere was a standout at the University of Virginia, being named the Atlantic Coast Conference Male Athlete of the Year in 2013.

Following college, Jenkins worked as a coach, including for his brother Jarmere, who reached a career-high singles ranking of No.190 on the ATP Tour.

In July of 2015, Jenkins joined Venus Williams's team as a hitting partner. During her time with Jenkins, Williams climbed back into the Top 5 and reached the finals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the WTA Finals in 2017.

Jenkins also communicated with Serena Williams about his brother during her search for a post-motherhood hitting partner, which eventually led to the 23-time Grand Slam champion hiring Jarmere for her own team.

Read more: 2019 WTA coaching carousel

At the start of this year, Jenkins was named as a national coach for women's tennis by USTA Player Development. He was reporting to Kathy Rinaldi, head of women's tennis for the USTA and the United States Fed Cup captain.

Less than two months later, however, Osaka announced that Jenkins had taken over the mantle of her new head coach from Sascha Bajin.

"Had a great dinner with the team," Osaka wrote on Twitter last Wednesday. "Also taking this moment to thank Jermaine for joining us and coming on board." WTA Insider then confirmed that Jenkins was on board as Osaka's new head coach.

Read more: 2019 WTA coaching carousel