Federer Still Coachless...
Roger Federer has worked with a couple of legendary tennis coaches during the past several years such as Tony Roche and Jose Higueras. However, it’s December and Roger has not named a new (full-time) coach to work with him during his off-season training and/or during his 2009 season. In contrast, other past top players have had lengthy and close relationships with their coaches. For example, Bjorn Borg worked with Lennart
Bergelin, who passed away recently, for twelve years. Bergelin also served as the Swedish Davis Cup captain and coached Sweden to its first Davis Cup title in 1975. Under Bergelin, Borg established the somewhat unusual routine of never playing a practice grass court tournament between the French Open and Wimbledon. Instead, Borg practiced alone on grass courts during the weeks between Roland Garros and Wimbledon. It’s always difficult to assess the impact of a coach on a player, but clearly Bergelin was very helpful to Borg and almost like a second father to him. Federer has played most of his years at the very top of the game without a full-time travelling coach and enjoyed incredible success. John McEnroe is another former top player who also travelled for many years without a coach in his corner for every match. However, most top players during the Open era have worked with a full-time travelling coach. Given Federer’s somewhat rocky road in 2008, one will see what decisions he makes in 2009 and beyond regarding his coaching situation depending on what results he has, especially early in the 2009 season.
|
