Sorry if this was posted on another thread, but I just saw this news (you can see it e.g. on Federer's website).

Thoughts anyone? Is this the right thing to do so close before the FO?

I know it may seem a strange move in a relative slump by Federer's standards.

BUT Federer acheived so much on his own without a coach and really whilst Roache has made an outstanding contribution it has still not solved trying to beat Nadal on clay which I truly beleive Federer is capable. Maybe his own approach and strategy will work. I doubt he will be getting a coach anytime soon.

Some of Federer's most succesful times have been without a coach!

Very good news :yahoo:

Roche wasn't bringing nothing new to his game and in clay roger was playing worst that the previous years.
The problem is that he lost time with roche and now he have to catch up. He needs a real clay court specialist fast to bring at least new ideas to his game in clay. If it's impossible to get this new coach before RG he just have to stick to his old game and go for it.
I never understand the idea to get roche as his coach and even less the justification that he gave of him needing a lefty coach to prepare him against Nadal. It would be like charles Barkley get Abdul Jabbar as his personal trainner to play against Michael Jordan :tsk:

I guess Roger decided that a change was needed. Nonetheless, it could be dangerous getting rid of your coach so close to FO. I guess we'll know more in Hamburg.

The decision is described as "mutual".. to me that sounds like they had some unfriendly telephone calls lately.

I think it's a good decision, although i expected this to happen after RG (and without a single clay title). It's clear the Fedster is fed up with his disappointing results the last few months.
A couple weeks ago i posted Fed needs a full time coach at this stage of his career; someone who can add something in the mental department.

Let the speculations begin!

Wilander?

If in some bizarre turn of events Pete Sampras decides to coach Federer, I'm committing suicide. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Not to be insensitive or anything Chet, but Fed wants to win RG doesn't he? Would Sampras really be his coach of choice with that aim in mind??? :P

DJ.
Seriously if you think of it, Federer is pushing the panic button way too early. Its not that his clay season is a total disaster.He reached the MC final and had chances in the first set. He can win Hamburg for the fourth time as Nadal may not play.

His poor peformance on clay seems to be more in his head rather than his coach doing anything with it. He is so worried about Nadal that he his game has slipped and other players are beating him. Something what happened to Andy Roddick in 2004 when he could never beat Federer and Andy's game slipped miserably.

I think he must play some regular ATP clay tourneys before showing up to the masters where the opposition is really tough from the word go. A win in a small clay event is a bigger confidence booster than losing in the 4th/QF in a masters.

Next week's event in Hamburg will tell us how well Fed might do at RG. He's won Hamburg three times so he should have more confidence.

great, i'm sure this will spur on more 'federer in crisis' talk, but the man has proven before he can play without a coach.

any player would die to have the 'slump' that federer is in.

and mutual or not, the split is some sort of acknowledgement that the federer game is not working right now. change is good, change is needed.

ouch! :lol:

Am surprised this has happened just before the FO - though, not totally with this last tourney - looks like Feds going to lay the blame totally at Roaches door - but I did expect it to happen soonish.

That said, Fed knows what he's about - we all know how well he can do out there by himself, so I guess its just a case of wait and see.

I have to confess that I'm surprised by the timing of this.. :blink:

I don't think that the panic button is being pressed though.

Also, I doubt that they've had angry words or anything like that.

My guess is simply that one of them has said to the other that things just don't seem to be working out. Tony had to be coerced into helping Roger initially and whilst he will of course be as disappointed as Roger that it didn't work out, I would also say that Tony will also be quite happy to be back at home more. It was a fair bit of effort on his behalf anyway, and that will just not seem worthwhile if it hasn't been reaping benefits in either his or Roger's eyes.

My guess is that it really was mutual as they both have a good knowledge of the game and probably sensed that they weren't getting the desired results.

Hopefully this will be a catalyst that will allow Roger to have a rich run of form that will enable him to pull the surprise and win Roland Garos this year!

Fully agree with this post as a start.

I agree as well to say that no panic button has been pressed: Simply FED is coherent, in 2006 he had some results on clay these have been used as benckmark for this season(FED has always used this strategy BTW from 2003 and his Wimbledon tiotle), he is not reaching an equivalent so something needs to be changed.

Moreover, another question of coherence is that even when they started their collaboration, in 2005, the objective was already the clay and RG: Tony was there because he was recognized as a trainer able to give some additional hints on that surface...

I mean a part the usual Clow&Troll comment presented in this discussion, any serious Tennis fan knows that FED does not need any major hints on other surfaces than clay, but on that surfaces he needs someone that decides carefully with him his calendar and follows strictly his time shedule (i.e. he needs someone that cut all these PR activities for instance and limits the business driven by the IMG manager)..

At the contrary clay is the key factor for him and for the coach..

As I said this will be the main criteria even in the future to chose his next trainer (I hope as well a 100% one: FED now needs someone that follow him closely-see above- BUT definitely a GREAT clay court specialist)..

In another Thread (after his defeat at MC) I clearly stated that, from my perspective, a very big bust will be to convince Borg (I was serious): This guy could be a big plus.

Besides, he is the real BIG name who was able to handle simultaneously fast and slower surface (i.e. clay)-BTW: this is a real candidate to the GOAT status not like some other guys.. :whistle: -

Finally, the time is just correct: This is something that will push him further. I remember when at the beginning of the season 2004 Roger decided to walk alone without Lundgren ..FED was just more motivated than ever to reach his objectives: that season was just fantastic and so why not hope that the rest of 2007 will be great..Just hope and :pray:

PS Pete trainer of FED roflmao roflmao ...If the final outcome will be to shut some clowns' big mouth up in this case yes welcome roflmao roflmao ...But this will be in contradiction with the main requirement: FED needs a clay court specialist..

From what I've seen it's not that unusual for players to change coach throughout their careers - possibly a few times? So perhaps it has just got to the point where it's time for a change for Federer?

Also, with regards to Fed pushing the panic button, we may say that he's just worried about RG, but his performance at IW and Miami was hardly breathtaking was it? A lot of us argued that he was focusing on the clay season, but Federer is a competitive player - I doubt he was very impressed by losing to the same player early in two Master's tournaments. And for him to then not even get the results he wanted on clay, I would think that pushed him to make some changes.

it'll be interesting to see if he can emulate his previous coach-less time. Didn't he win 3 GS in that time?

Wonder if there are any gifted coaches out there wanting to take on the job :victoryboy:

Funny how not a couple of months ago the talk was of Nadal going into tailspin with his shattered confidence and how he needed a new coach if he was not going to disappear into oblivion.

Who would have guessed that Fed would change his coach first?

I'm sure it's a good idea. If one or other of them thinks it's not working you get out at the point you have discovered that. There is no need to soldier on just for the sake of Fed having a coach. I am sure he needs another coach if he wants to crack clay - I agree with TV that he seems to be OK on the other surfaces.

Can you imagine the meltdown on the Beeb board!?

I doubt any panic button has been pressed, I should imagine it's been coming for a while. Certainly doubt it has anything to do with Volandri. Fully agree with Petals point that the results weren't what they wanted, and it was time to move on...

Anyway, he managed to win three GS without a coach, I wouldn't put it past Fed to coach himself to win RG ;)

I don't necessarily think Fed needs a clay court coach - he's a very good player on clay, reaching multiple finals/semis. He needs to beat Nadal, that's all!

It a difficult situation Federer must be in as he is probably hearing tons of comments and advises coming from all sides including the Wilander's, Mc and co and to pick or select the good ones from the bad ones is almost an impossible task when going through a doubt period.

This is where I think solitude is needed for a reality check and find in himself this FO victory because I do not think any coach out there has the key to it. Only Fed knows what he needs to do and above all, what he needs is build his confidence and get his timing back.

Agreed Tenez. This close to the FO is not the time for someone to come along and try something different with your game. Fed doesnt need that - time to think it through by himself, stick with what he knows and just go for it.

If it doesnt work this year (and lets face it, thats a definite likeliehood with a certain Nadal around), he has plenty of time till the next one to find a coach he can work with and settle into comfortably if he decides thats the way to go.

oh yes! I might even be inclined to visit it again for such a debate :)

Its a sign of how huge winning the FO would be to Federer that he'll go coachless if he thinks it would help. As you say theres been much analysing on the tactics he should use to beat Nadal , maybe he already knows better than anyone. After all, if he wins the FO he'd be the greatest player ever in many peoples eyes. :bow:
It would be fantastic if he got Borg as a coach though .He probably has a conflicting personal interest though, as Im sure he doesnt want Nadal to break his FO record , or Roger his Wimbledon one !

Interesting thought re: Borg..

But wouldn't that be a bit strange when Fed would play A-Rod? There'd then be Borg and Connors in the background, wanting to put one over each other by proxy, no doubt! :lol:

Would be fun if Rafa were then to somehow hire McEnroe, if he wanted to move his game along on grass.. There would be some sort of symmetry to the whole thing, get the top 3 men in the late 70s coaching the top 3 men now..

Hi petalp

Great scenario indeed.. roflmao John fighting against the Hawk-Eye..Connors asking him to Shut up to hoim because the machineries is right (i.e. the serve of AROD are too much for Hawk-Eye and if Rafa is not able to see them it is not the fault of the machineries :P )..And finally Borgy there with his protect FED saying ABSOLUTLY nothing and win... roflmao roflmao

Let's dream..Borg for trainer and McEnroe as advisor of Rafa roflmao

Please of Tennis Spirit let's do that :pray: :pray:

Some further ideas for this discussion and a first name for the new trainer of FED:

here

:rolleyes:

Ciao

roflmao

That would be a fantastic scenario for a comedy movie imo. Maybe you should write a screenplay?

I don't trust fox.

Note how their article basically says "Roche is now going to coach Hewitt", but if you actually read it carefully, no-one from Hewitt's team has actually talked to Roche yet ...

I like your suggestion of Borg as Fed's coach. :)

Or how about Laver? ;)

Not sure how much he would bring to Fed's game, but it would make a hell of a good story. B)

John McEnroe reaction to this main news:

"Obviously he needs a little bit of a jolt," McEnroe said. "The guy has had probably the greatest three years in the history of tennis but, sooner or later, there's a letdown [i.e. the guy is able to pay credits on FED's results :whistle: such a different attitude from some other (Wise) expert ;) ]

"In a way, losing to Volandri may wake him up, it may have shaken him up, and it may work out that the sense of urgency will be there at the French. The irony was that he hired Tony because Tony had won the French."

further details HERE

:P :P

Let's :pray: :pray: that he is right and FED will be back already in Hamburg..I mean the best finals on clay are always those of a top Rafa against a top FED ;) ;)

The Fox article is a whole lot of Jazz as far as Im concerned.Just speculation and hope!

Marc Rosset was talking about Fed's recent loss of form on Swiss TV last night and suggested he should play more offensively and try and serve and volley more to beat Nadal on clay.Any thoughts on this idea.Probably a case of easier said than done..

The Nadal camp must be loving this. Even when Federer isn't playing Nadal, he's running scared. You've got to admire the young Mallorcan - after a less than impressive few months on the hardcourts, he pops up to win Indian Wells, then demolishes virtually all opposition in his path on the clay, despite signs that the claycourt field is getting stronger (Djokovic improving all the time, Almagro showing last year's form, Davydenko and Robredo looking solid again, Canas in the form of his life, Volandri putting together a stunning run).

We knew that Nadal was in Federer's head already, but this decision confirms it. Having said all of that, its the right decision. Roche is a good coach but not really what Federer needs at this moment in time. Roche and Federer ultimately failed to crack the winning formula against Nadal on clay. Its an extremely tough one to crack, and will be the toughest challenge of Federer's career - it relies on supreme mental strength, dogged determination, physical stamina and tactical acumen as well as the technical skillset that Federer finds he can rely on usually.

A depressing parallel for him is Lendl, trying to win Wimbledon (good enough to have won it, but the competition was too tough at the time). A happier one is Agassi, the last 'all-surface' player to win Roland Garros. Agassi was very good on clay, but it was never his best surface, and the competition was better than him earlier on (Gomez too experienced, Courier too disciplined). He did however up his game when he needed to, and took his chance when it came, against the talented, but mentally frail Medvedev (perhaps the Coria, or even Gasquet, of his day).

Nadal continues to astound us with his amazing record, and the gap may seem to have widened between him and Federer on clay, but I still hold out some hope for the Fed-meister.

Further details about the split:

World number one Roger Federer confirmed Monday that he would be bidding to complete his Grand Slam collection without a coach after blaming "lack of communication" for his surprise split with Tony Roche at the weekend.

The decision to part company with Roche comes just two weeks before the French Open where Federer could become the first man to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously since the great Australian Rod Laver 38 years ago.

Federer will also attempt to defend his Wimbledon title without a coach, as the 25-year-old Swiss player explained that he had seen the end of his professional relationship with the Australian coming for some time.

"I was sad, and he looked surprised," said Federer. "I would have been disappointed if he had said 'that's great'. So that was a good sign in a bad sort of way.

"But it was good for me to talk to him and tell him face to face. I didn't really do that with (Peter) Lundgren (his previous coach) because I told him on the phone though later we met so that was OK.

"It was emotional. And he took it like a man. We are both old enough, and he has 40 or 50 years in tennis, to know it's not the end of the world. And he knows it's my decision and he supports that decision."

Asked to explain the lack of communication which he had cited as the reason for the split, Federer said: "It sounds simple but you get into a routine and we started never having much contact and it was never like that at the start.

"Maybe always after two and a half years you think this relationship needs more, and then it's too late to change it."

This contradicts the suggestion that Federer's failure to win any of his last four tournaments was a main cause of the separation. However this disappointing spell, Federer's worst in the 171 weeks since he became number one, almost certainly gave him a appropriate moment to break the news to Roche.

"It meant that I had more time off and maybe it also gave me time to think, because before I kept on playing and kept on winning," explained Federer.

"That happening shows more that I am a human being: the last three and half years have been incredible. I have been trying to keep it up, but it is not easy, and I knew that and I always knew that eventually I would lose a couple of matches here or there.

"But I was happy with the way I played in Monaco. I was not happy with last week (Rome, where he lost to world number 53, Filippo Volandri). It's basically one (bad) tournament because in Indian Wells I had a bit of a blister and in Miami I think I played well.

"So nothing really happened from point of view. It looks like a long slump because Indian Wells and Miami were a long time ago. That's more the situation I am in."

Federer will start to try to prove the truth of this when he takes on Juan Monaco, a qualifier from Argentina in the second round of the Hamburg Masters either tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday.

Asked if his next coach would have to travel more, Federer half agreed.

"Maybe," he said. "I have not thought about a replacement because I am not that kind of person to go from one to the next.

"I try my best till the end and then I go from there. And that's what I am doing here. So I will not take a coach for the French Open and Wimbledon."

link here

:rolleyes:

and this as well..

"I'm definitely not going to take a coach for the French Open and Wimbledon because I know what it takes and I don't want anybody interfering with my preparation and with my tournaments," Federer said at the Hamburg Masters, where he has a first-round bye.

"Maybe down the road I'm going to look again for someone who's going to be able to help me out for practicing," he said.

Federer's worst slump since he became the top-ranked player in 2004 culminated with a straight-set loss to Italian wild card Filippo Volandri in the third round of the Rome Masters last week. But Federer insisted the defeat was not the reason for his split from Roche.

"It's something that's been inside myself for a few months," Federer said. "It was a decision that wasn't easy, of course, because we're good friends and get along very well and he's helped me a lot over the last couple of years.

"(But) in the end he was a part-time coach. We only were together for 15 weeks and distances were also not so easy ... I just thought the communication kind of changed and it was not going much further."

Comments? I will be back tomorrow :wave: ..Good night to all

Ciao

Details HERE

Thanks TV. You always track the best interviews from your man. This is very interesting as it says much more than what I had read thus far.

He played pretty well in Rome's first match against a top opponent and I was really surprised to see him play so poorly against Volandri looking preoccupied. It even crossed my mind afterwards that he lost on purpose in order to get an excuse to sack Roche (not that he needed one). As he says here, it was in his mind for a few months and one wonders whether his "preoccupied" look against Volandri was not a prelude to Roche's dismissal. Also, he had committed to Hamburg and probably did not want to waste too much energy on the 2 TMS (he never does before a slam and would certainly not do it before his most important one ever). It is almost like he got reinsured about his performance against Almagro, and then chose the best occasion to pull out: a) still early to save energy B) against a crowd favourite c) avoid another confrontation with Nadal* d) such an upset would make his decision over Roche easier and finally e) could test his solo preparation fully in Hamburg.

I am certainly not saying that all those excuses were conscious but the Volandri loss seems to me well timed, and unconsciously they have certainly played. Imagine one second that he wanted to part from Roche, Rome and Volandri were the perfect timing he certainly would not have liked to go to the FO with a coach he felt had not much else to teach him.

Hamburg will be an excellent preparation for the French as it will keep him focused and warmed up for the French.

* It is important to keep nadal guessing and keep a big part of creativity when facing him. I believe the more one plays Nadal, the more he anticipates the shots. Federer needs to keep his flair , serve and wrong footing strategy

Some comments about MrI last post (very interesting, as often BTW):

I really believe this is just the contrary: IMO this split is in some sense a bad new for the Rafa camp (even if I am very far to believe that Rafa and his camp are, at the moment, worry about something..I mean Rafa Tennis is so high at the moment; Who cares about other players even if the other player is FED?) Why? Because this shows a great determination of FED to do something to react and fighting back the problems he currently faces...No, IMO, it was better for him to see FED doing nothing and continues with the same method and procedures and with the same team..Once again, i see this move as something positive..

Said that: Before agreeing with some of your arguments Tenez, i.e.

I want to see him playing in Hamburg: For me this is the key event at the moment. FED needs to play well and be able to reach at least the final..This will be the big bust for him that will really re assure him on his Tennis on clay. Let's hope we can se this result and see him playing well..

BTW another very interesting article here : a nice parallel between FED and the all time great of our sport (in particular Borg one of the ultimate all time great)- I hope you will like it Tenez-
Ciao
:rolleyes:

Yes TV, it is a good article, again.

I am not convinced when he talks about his ability to overcome a crisis. His crisis happened in 2001 after he beat Sampras. Now it is different! He is simply faced with the best player on clay ever (I don't mean the greatest, just the best) which is preventing him to be the greatest player himself.

He might not be as dominant from now because some other great players are coming up but that was always bound to happen. He will still be a more exceptional athlete than Redgrave or Pinsant...in my view.

Hi,Tenez.Heard Rog has been sparring with a left-handed top French junior.Can't remember his name.Have you any ideas?BTW,I also think that Rome defeat might have been a tactical one.I'm certainly hoping anyway. ;)

Hi Fedrules - Good to have you back. This is very intersting times (has always been since Fed came onto the world stage, imo).

Yes,the Fed Nadal rivalry makes the prospect of RG and Wimbledon very interesting-one of reasons I'd hate to see Fed go out early in Paris.BTW,if you consider Rafa as 'the best' rather than the 'greatest' clay courter who was the greatest in your opinion?Could it be Borg??

Borg has certainly the number of FOs. I just said the best as I did not wish to enter the argument of the "greatest" again.

It will simply be harder for Nadal to achieve what Borg did as it will be even harder for Fed and Nadal's successors to surpass them in their numerous records. That should not prevent us from apreciating the real talent/work of future players.

On the subject of future players,what's happening to Gasquet at the moment?It seems he's having problems living up to his potential.