Federer and Annacone Together Forever

Roger posted the following message on his official website today:

Dear Fans

Paul and I have had a good trial period. He will be working with me during the US Open and I look forward to having Paul as a member of my team going forward and he will be integrated more and more as his responsibilities with LTA wind down.

See you soon

Roger

I think this is really great news, and I'm excited to see how Annacone working with Federer at the US Open will affect his game. I know that Roger plans to keep Severin Luthi, his current coach, on as part of his team, and I'm just interested to see how that will work. Will Luthi be at the US Open, and if so will he be at the practice sessions with Federer and Annacone? Seems like that might be a bit weird, but maybe not. I mean, I'm assuming Federer's got a plan worked out, and I trust that he knows what will work best for him.

Video: Federer Practicing in Toronto

For photos from this practice session click here.

Federer, Annacone at Rogers Cup

It's raining really, really hard out right now, so I'm going to wait a bit and hope that it stops before I head out to the Rogers Cup. The good news is that while I'm waiting, I can post more photos from Day 1 of the event.

Let's start with Federer since it's his birthday today. Fed looked good at practice yesterday—relaxed and smiling, with Mirka watching from the bench and Paul Annacone coaching him on the court. He was, of course, wearing a monogrammed RF shirt, and plaid shorts. Roger practiced with Kohlschreiber first and then later with Soderling. Below are the photos...Happy 29th bday R. Fed!

Federer + Annacone = Major no. 17?

Roger Federer recently posted the following message on his website:

"Dear Fans,
I've been looking to add someone to my team and I've decided to spend some days with Paul Annacone. As Paul winds down his responsibilities working for the Lawn Tennis Association, we will explore our relationship through this test period. Paul will work alongside my existing team and I am excited to learn from his experiences.

See you soon

Roger"

This news makes me very happy.  I think that at this point in Federer's career, the choice to bring in someone new makes perfect sense, and I don't even think it matters so much which coach he brings in. As long as the coach has decent experience and Federer respects and is willing to listen to them, I think we might see some positive results.

Paul Annacone has coached some great players, most notably Pete Sampras who he worked with from 1995-2002. After this, Annacone was the Managing Director of the United States Tennis Association High Performance Program, and later the Head Coach of the Lawn Tennis Association—a position that he will be finished with as of November 2010.

I certainly don't think that Federer is on the decline that many other people seem to think he's on, but the fact is that he's getting older (29 next month), and trying some new things and getting someone else's perspective on his game can't hurt. As he said in his message, they will try this out on a trial basis, and if things don't work out then that's fine, they can both go their separate ways—no harm done.

Perhaps all Roger needs is a fresh pair of eyes to take a look at his game and offer him some new ideas. Annacone helped Pete Sampras win a large number of majors—let's hope he can do the same for Roger.