Does Roger Federer need a coach?
The answer to that could be unanimous as long as Federer himself isn’t included in the polling.
After this year’s Australian Open final, where Federer fell in five sets to Rafael Nadal, sage tennis minds from Patrick McEnroe to Darren Cahill suggested Federer needed a voice to offer him advice, and occasional healthy dissent.
Then it became known that Cahill rendezvoused with Federer in Dubai. Word leaked of a coaching arrangement only to be countered by an announcement that Cahill was unwilling to “travel” the tour, and leave his school-aged children.
So still no coach for Federer, who lost to Andy Murray over the weekend in the Indian Wells semifinals. Murray has beaten Federer four consecutive times, and his career mark against the Swiss is 6-2.
I think the question really is: Does Roger Federer WANT a coach?
After all, Federer can have whatever he wants. Money is no object. He has leaned on a select few confidantes -- longtime amour Mirka Vavrinec, Swiss friend Rene Staubli, and current Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luhti. IMG mega agent Tony Godsick has Federer’s ear for business matters. That’s the group, and I sense Federer likes the control he maintains over it.
I also sense Federer loves playing the throwback role -- being a true independent in the era of entourages. As classy a champion as Federer has been, that trait does not exclude ego, and it appears Federer likes receiving the credit, and not sharing it with a coach.
A conversation at Wimbledon rings my memory bank. It was the year after Federer’s second Wimbledon title, and he and I spoke outside the NBC offices. I asked him about the previous year’s final, in which he utilized a rain delay to turn around and win a tough match with Andy Roddick. It began Federer’s dominance of the All-England Club and of Roddick as well.
The point is that Federer relished the fact that it was he who employed a tactical change, blocking back Roddick’s cannonading serves, to effect a change in outcome. And further it was Roddick who had THE coach, Brad Gilbert, in his corner. Federer enjoyed the fact that HE outsmarted both Roddick and Gilbert.
It is clear that Rafael Nadal, who won at Indian Wells, now owns the tennis world. The match of Nadal’s forehand to Federer’s backhand is an exchange that Federer cannot win. Nadal wins these stroke exchanges on clay by a huge margin, and on other surfaces they are at best even.
Murray has confidence against Federer, and Nadal beats him regularly. The aura of invincibility that cloaked Federer for five years is rapidly eroding.
Could a coach change that? Maybe. It seems Federer still hasn’t fully accepted the concept. But with each loss -- and Federer only plays the big events these days -- the window narrows on his catching and passing Pete Sampras for most Grand Slam titles in a career. And that should increase the focus Federer needs to apply to the coaching question.
