It seems rumors have been swirling for weeks that Roger Federer may hire Darren Cahill as a coach. Recently, it was confirmed Federer is currently training in Dubai with Cahill. Supposedly, nothing’s definite and they’re testing the waters. But it’s certainly an interesting development since many have suggested The Mighty Fed needs a good coach.
For those that don’t know, tennis players typically have a coach but Fed hasn’t had one for a long time – he won his last 7 majors without one. He hired Jose Higueras (a clay expert) for a few months last year but parted with him after the US Open. Cahill often appears as an ESPN commentator and he has coached Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi (in his later years) to #1 ranking and Grand Slam victories.
As a TMF fan, the dream scenario this year would be: Federer ties Sampras by winning #14 at the French, wins #15 by retaking his crown at Wimbledon, and wins #16 with a 6th straight US Open title. He would definitely have to beat Nadal in the finals at the French and probably at Wimby too. Also, I’m not sure about the numbers but I would think he’d have to win 2 majors to have a realistic chance of ending the year at #1. For now it’s all wishful thinking – we’ll see how this year plays out and especially how Federer plays at Indian Wells and Miami, after coming back from his back injury.
2009-03-12 UPDATE
Well, Cahill is officially not going to be Federer’s coach. I don’t necessarily think Fed needs a coach, but I think he definitely needs to change or improve something. A coach may be the person to point that out, or maybe not, who knows. When all your grand slam final losses are to the same person, it’s not a fluke, luck or anything – something’s clearly not right with your game (however slight it may be). I think it’s mostly mental though. He could have easily won Wimby or AO in 3 or 4 sets if he had converted a couple more break point chances. His break point percentage is very poor against Nadal for whatever reason, even though he has plenty of opportunities.
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