World No 1 Roger Federer confirmed on 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."
(China Daily via AFP May 16, 2007)