Federer splits from Annacone

Just hit the sports news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/24510061

Not certain what Roger hopes to achieve by this. We've now had the new raquet and then back to the old one. Lots of rest, which was going to lead to him coming back stronger.

Basically, he's almost doing a Rory Mclroy - changing everything at once

And it may have the same results as change for changes sake, rarely works

We shall see

Yes banbotram, I heard this on radio about an hour ago.

Well it's true that Federer has been making changes in the way that Rory McIlroy has. And both have suffered a rapid drop from a world ranking of Number one (within the last year) to number seven and six respectively.

But there the comparison ends.

McIlroy is struggling to recapture the form that took him to the top and brought him two majors, and in some style. But whilst he and his followers are understandably concerned that he has lost the winning touch, the upside is that at just 24 he has, hopefully, many prime years of success till ahead. And of course pro golfers can generally look forward to a considerably longer shelf life than their tennis counterparts.

By contrast, Roger Federer has already seen and done it all. Once he started winning major titles, he never stopped - until this year. But by then there was nothing left to prove, the unique legacy having been secured a good while ago. He is - realistically - within a year or so of retirement but in whatever time that remains, he would clearly like to perform much better, even during this twilight period when age has caught up with him, than he has been doing in 2013 to date.

Since turning pro, Federer's decisions - whether with regard to his selection and use of coaches, equipment and scheduling of competitive play vs rest periods - have yielded a level of achievement in his chosen career that not even he ever dreamt of as possible.

Any further decisions he makes will inevitably be scrutinised, analysed and no doubt also criticised. Like any sporting megastar, he has always generated global interest and attention. But at the end of the day, whilst we are naturally all free to comment, I'm not sure that we are best placed or qualified to pass judgement on a man who understands just what it takes to succeed , and more so perhaps than anyone who has ever played the game. A man who is ultimately not required to answer to anyone but himself.

Roger believes in new voice time and again, thats the reason he hired Annacone, may be he might have believed Annacone had done his job and now he need somebody different for a different set of challanges ahead, or may Annacone like Rocky's coach insisted on rough training and Fed declined it and hence he decided to move on.

"Paul remains a dear friend," Federer added.

This has not been said lightly. Wish Federer luck in finding a replacement. Does he really want a coach? Luthi can continue, but he works with Stan as well (and Stan has Magnus in his camp).

There are many well-qualified resources available. He may wish to reconsider Cahill. Connors has a ton of personal experience at this late a stage in his career. Stefanki, Lundgren. Patrick McEnroe (or the other McEnroe, if willing).

Tony Godsick has a significant base.

I am not sure Toni Nadal would offer his services though?

PS: Perhaps his good friend Sampras may be willing to help an old friend.

Clearly ending it when Fed is struggling and only a few weeks before the end of the season indicates a more sudden decision than something that they had agreed too and planned a while back.  I think the main goals of another major and #1 were reached, but I think there was strain this year as well, and Federer is looking for anything to create a jumpstart.

I'm pretty friendly from Fed's official forum with a group of fans that literly follow him around the globe from tourney to tourney, who have friendships with Luthi, Godsick, on first name basis with Fed himself-   the talk amongst them since the beginning of the Annacone relationship was that Annacone wanted and it was agreed that he have ample time off-- would not be at every tourney, every training  session. He had already quit travelin as a coach and had settled in England with a steady job-- so maybe fulltime travel wasn't where his heart was at..  It worked fine at first as Federer was still at  a high level, winning plenty. Certainly last year was a dream year....... However, this year for various reasons has been a struggle. What struck me as strange and this group of fans spoke of even in the beginning  of the year was that Annacone did not deviate from his vacation time,etc to spend extra time with Fed.. A perfect example-  when Fed went to the two clay tournies after Wimby to try and regain confidence, get some matchplay in, and most importantly try a new racquet, Annacone did not travel with him as it was his regular time off.  IT struck me and others as very strange for a coach, if fully committed, to not drop what he was doing and join his player in such a important phase of trying to right the ship..   Fed's team said things like Paul was in constant contact with Fed, but that's not the same as being there. Perhaps as Fed continued to struggle, a bit of resentment or aggravation creeped in on his part that Annacone wasn't willing to go the extra mile to spend unscheduled time with him.    After all- in the big scheme of things- there is a huge amount of off time during the season for a coach and it's really at most a few year sprint to the end of Fed's career after which Annacone could take as much time as he wanted off..... I know I would have been there every second I could to help my player...

The other thing that struck me as not working was match tactics. When Fed hired Annacone I was excited that he would have a new set of eyes to break down opponent tape and develop game plans for a match- something I thought lacking in the Fed camp. As was well documented, Fed would go into a match and basically wing it often... confident in his amazing talent and vast arsenal that he could switch to whatever tactic needed during the match as as he saw and felt it..  I thought this backfired on him at times.   At first, I did see an improvement in that area, but even last year- I thought Fed was winging it more , and there were also matches where I thought he started out in the wrong game plan... that would be on the coach..

So I think a combo of Fed struggling, Annacone not performing above and beyond his cushy job schedule, and a need for a new voice is what has happened. I hope it works for Fed.

Some very interesting background info and reflections there TRuffin.

Federer has always had coaching challenges, apart from Carter, who was almost a father/elder brother to him. It is a very tough place for an aging champion to try and regain past glory and be very successful at it.

Instead of looking outside, perhaps Luthi should be officially the coach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10EuSvSM6ds Djokovic interview about Federer, basically admitting he can see federer is a little slower

CAS wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10EuSvSM6ds Djokovic interview about Federer, basically admitting he can see federer is a little slower

I've never know an athlete who has had a long career that isn't slower at 32 than they where in their prime.. Age spares no one... Montana, Jordan, Ali, Federer. you name it..

I hear what you're saying but that's not strictly true. Look at the sports where you have to keep in absolute top physical shape...

+ Linford Christie set his career best 100m time of 9.87 at 33 years and 4 months.

+ Carl Lewis set his speed and long jump records at 30 yrs old...and maintained similar performances for a long time afterwards.

+ Frankie Fredericks set his best indoor 50m sprint time at 35 years old.

+ Michael Johnson set his 400m WR of 43,19 at age 32.

+ Ed Moses won 400m hurdles World Champ Gold in 1987 at age 32 in 47.46s, a time that no-one but him had beat and is still top 15 today.

+ Most of Haile Gebrselassie's long distance records have also been set in his 30s inc. marathon record at 35 years old.

+ Giggs was still leaving players for dead at 32 years old...and that's years ago now...was still moving quicker than most at 36-37 too!

Federer may be slowing but it isn't necessarily just age. Outright speed is linked to fast twitch muscle density. If he has less fast twitch fibres than before then it's likely due to a reduction of physical training...and we can see that happened given his recent spurt at getting fit again. I'll wager the "slowness" is self inflicted and he's started to realise it....so wants to get into the gym more, and get a new coach who can help motivate him plus give some new ideas. Annacone had ran out of ideas...what worked for Henman and Sampras wasn't working for Federer any more, it's a different era.

If you're prepared to put the hard gym and running work in then fast twitch density goes up, as does outright fitness and speed. True physical decline doesn't happen until late 30s if you can keep in prime condition with the right exercises. Federer wasn't keeping up and paid the price in 2013.

I think it just depends on the individual, Federer running to his forehand side is the most visible problem I see when he's defending, he seems to really struggle to move to that side sometimes, I was also watching his match with Murray in the Aus Open final 3 years ago. It struck me how patient he was, controlled aggression and was willing to exchange with Murray, he now seems to rush so much and that's when the errors start coming. He has little rhythm, I remember him saying in 05 that when he injured his ankle he was too aggressive because he didnt trust his defence at that moment due to the injury, I think that's the case now, he doesn't want to defend because he doesn't trust it at the moment

Pure endurance or sprinting events are so different from this though lydian.

Also maybe at the start of a tournament he's no slower but he's slower after a few matches, I think early 30s you aren't much slower than your 20s if at all but it's your ability to recover that is the first issue

The back doesn't help but for me his confidence is shot which is having the biggest impact of all.

In my opinion it is an accumulutation of things.

1. His age
2. His back injury
3. A run of form that dented confidence.
4. In turn the aura of invincibility he had went with it and players now walk onto court in matches against him fancying their chances of a win unlike in the past.
5. Far less consistent.

Good points, CC. Of course, it's all relative. Here's a guy who has won 36 matches on the tour, reached a GS semi and been a quarter finalist in another, won a tourney and reached a 1,000 pointer final, who is still in the top 10 and still in with a shout of the year-end championships.
  But as this is Federer, it's seen as a poor year. Well, for him, it is a poor year. For anyone else at 32 it would be quite a reasonable year.

Haas or Stepanek are not very good comparisons, but Ferrer may be a better comparison from a fitness perspective.

CAS wrote:Federer running to his forehand side is the most visible problem I see when he's defending

Monfils match is most recent example. One noticeable thing due to his lack of speed is the angle he runs now to defend that FH. In the past, it would be parallel to the baseline (3 o' clock), now it is 4/5 o'clock which requires a larger distance/shorter time to respond.

@Lydian... Changing a coach is not always a positive change. Luthi is still in his camp. This should not be laid at Annacone's doorstep solely.IIRC, Annacone has said, that Federer has the energy levels of a 22-23 yo. (My copy of Rafa is back in my hands).

lydian wrote:I hear what you're saying but that's not strictly true. Look at the sports where you have to keep in absolute top physical shape...

+ Linford Christie set his career best 100m time of 9.87 at 33 years and 4 months.

+ Carl Lewis set his speed and long jump records at 30 yrs old...and maintained similar performances for a long time afterwards.

+ Frankie Fredericks set his best indoor 50m sprint time at 35 years old.

+ Michael Johnson set his 400m WR of 43,19 at age 32.

+ Ed Moses won 400m hurdles World Champ Gold in 1987 at age 32 in 47.46s, a time that no-one but him had beat and is still top 15 today.

+ Most of Haile Gebrselassie's long distance records have also been set in his 30s inc. marathon record at 35 years old.

+ Giggs was still leaving players for dead at 32 years old...and that's years ago now...was still moving quicker than most at 36-37 too!

Federer may be slowing but it isn't necessarily just age. Outright speed is linked to fast twitch muscle density. If he has less fast twitch fibres than before then it's likely due to a reduction of physical training...and we can see that happened given his recent spurt at getting fit again. I'll wager the "slowness" is self inflicted and he's started to realise it....so wants to get into the gym more, and get a new coach who can help motivate him plus give some new ideas. Annacone had ran out of ideas...what worked for Henman and Sampras wasn't working for Federer any more, it's a different era.

If you're prepared to put the hard gym and running work in then fast twitch density goes up, as does outright fitness and speed. True physical decline doesn't happen until late 30s if you can keep in prime condition with the right exercises. Federer wasn't keeping up and paid the price in 2013.

I think there are many factors that play into it Lydian.. Just not pure speed.. when I say "slower" I'm talking about just an overall slight reduction in quickness, timing,etc across the whole body, just not leg speed.. IT can just be a fraction, but it's always happened IMO-- Every boxer I've ever known has had decline in reaction speed in defense, hand speed et as they hit their 30's.. You're right that training can compensate and in the modern era that's why we're seeing boxers, tennis players,etc fight and play at a high level longer. Even Michael Jordan when he retired for the 1st time at 30 talked about how "I'm no longer the same guy that you see in the commercials.. the guy that can fly. I've had to change my game around as I lost my burst, my 1st step is slower, so I dont' play around the basket like I used to. I improved my overall game, my shot to help out......" Now Jordan came back a couple of years later and won 3 more championships, but he was no longer as dominant a one on one player.. He improved in other areas..
This is what Federer has talked about as well. He says his shoulders are stronger, backhand better, more experience than when he was dominating, but he's lost in other areas as well..