Svetlana Kuznetsova has decided to start the year off with a new coach. Svetlana rehired Olga Morozova as her coach. Kuznetsova is currently training with Morozova in Dubai ready for the hot Australian summer. It will be very interesting to see if she is able to improve her performances from 2011, where she didnt do so well.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki has finally hired a new coach to replace her father, Piotr. The Dane announced a couple of months ago that she and her father have decided no to work together on a coaching basis, but didn’t announce the name of her new coach since the announcement.
Her father Piotr accompanied his daughter to tournaments even after they agreed to split, but a Danish newspaper recently announced that her new coach will be Spain’s Ricardo Sanchez.
Wozniacki hasn’t had any luck at the Grand Slam events, and didn’t even reach the semis at the year-ending championships this year. The Spanish coach has stated that his goal will be to get the number one player up to her potential and win the Australian Open next month.
Hopefully Sanchez will be a good coaching match for her and will help her win at least one Slam to consolidate her top ranking in the women’s game. If she is to win a Grand Slam she shouldn’t play so many tournaments throughout the year and make wise choices as to where to play in order to get ready for a Grand Slam. I think Ricardo will help her realize her objectives as a player and maybe we will see an improvement in her game next year!
Jelena Dokic has released a statement about her father being her new coach.
“I want to thank the Australian public for their incredible ongoing support and assure everyone that I remain Australian and will continue to play for Australia,” she said. “I would like to confirm media reports that I have reconciled with my father. My partner Tin Bikic and I have visited my father at his home to finally put an end to our disagreement. I initiated the meeting as I want to reunite my family and allow us all to get on with our lives and be happy. This has gone on too long. I am in a very positive and confident frame of mind in my life and I really wanted to do this because I believe it is the right thing to do both for me and for all of my family. My father was very receptive and I believe he has changed greatly. He understands that I am my own person who makes my own decisions.
“He is now accepting of Tin and I am very pleased we have been able to sort things out. This has been a very uplifting experience for me and for my family. I am very excited about the future. I plan to continue to work with my fantastic coach Louise Pleming with the ongoing support of Tennis Australia and am extremely thankful to both for their help. My next tour event will be in Linz, Austria.”
It seems as though Jack Sock has changed his mind and rehired Mike Wolf as his coach. Sock split with Wolf prior to the US Open, but has been regretting the decision ever since.
Sock will play USTA Challengers in Sacramento and Tiburon, California in the next two weeks.
It seems like the time of year when all of the top players on both tours split with their coaches.
The latest player is Melanie Oudin and she has split with her coach Brian DeVilliers and is now working with Tom Gullikson.
Im a big fan of Tom Gullikson so it will be interesting to see if he can get the best out of Melanie Oudin. Oudin is known for choking in big matches, so it will be tough work for Gullikson.
Jelena Dokic has a new coach and you wouldnt believe who it is! Damir Dokic! Yes, Jelena has decided to have her estranged father coach her again.
Jelena, are you completely stupid? Yes… yes you are!
Dokic, who is there with her boyfriend Tin Bikic, has begun training with Damir, who was released from jail a few months ago, in Serbia.
“My partner, Tin Bikic, and I have visited my father at his home to finally put an end to our disagreement.”
“I initiated the meeting as I want to reunite my family and allow us all to get on with our lives and be happy. This has gone on too long,” Jelena said.
“I am in a very positive and confident frame of mind in my life and I really wanted to do this because I believe it is the right thing to do both for me and for all of my family.
“My father was very receptive and I believe he has changed greatly. He understands that I am my own person who makes my own decisions.”
Australian coach and analyst Darren Cahill wrote on Twitter: “My heart has always gone out to Jelena. If she’s happy, we’re all happy. But, this still feels awkward.”
After Li Na split up with her coach, Kim Clijsters of Belgium has decided to take the same route. She has replaced Wim Fissette with former Belgian Fed Cup captain, Carl Maes.
He has coached the former top player before on a private basis, but Kim isn’t expected to return to play until the next season due to injuries she has sustained this year.
Stanislas Wawrinka has just announced that he has split with coach Peter Lundgren. Lundgren was previously the long term coach of Roger Federer and he has been able to keep Wawrinka in the top 20 for over 3 years now. However, Wawrinka hasnt really had the performed well in Grand Slams this year.
“He played a major role in my career and I am deeply grateful,” Wawrinka wrote. “We have had a lot of success and fun working together, I can’t thank him enough.”
Currently ranked number one Carloine Wozniacki has decided to end her coaching relationship with her father Piotr after her recently poor form at two of the tournaments that make up the US Open Series, Toronto and Cincinnati.
They have discussed the option of going in another direction after her defeat at Wimbledon to Dominika Cibulkova, but the new coach had not yet come on board with Wozniacki so Piotr went to Toronto and Cincinnati with his daughter, as coach. During her recent loss to America’s rising star Christina McHale, Piotr was heard yelling at his daughter when he came on court to coach her. The identity of Caroline’s new coach is yet unknown but is said to be a former touring pro.
Wozniacki has been criticized for playing too defensively and many think that this issue is not helping her win her first Slam, so hopefully her new coach will guide her in a direction that will help her not only to win more matches at regular tournaments, but also make her mark on the Grand Slam scene. Her father has stated that he will support her no matter what and doesn’t hold any grudges regarding the split, only hoping for his daughter’s career to go to the next level.
Wozniacki’s next tournament will be next week in New Haven.
Last week we reported that Coco Vandeweghe had split with coach Tom Gullikson. Now, it has been announced that her new coach is Jan-Michael Gambill. Gambill got to know Vandeweghe during the World Team Tennis and they are now going to work together through the US Open.
After that I wouldnt be surprised if Vandeweghe drops Gambill and finds yet another coach.
Stability is needed!
Guillermo Canas is back coaching Ernests Gulbis. Canas was working with Gulbis at Wimbledon and has not started to help him train again.
Canas was known for being one of the fitest players on tour and hopefully he can instill such a work ethic into Gulbis. Gulbis of late has been one of the players on tour I expected a lot more from, but he has never lived up to expectations.
Gulbis just stopped a five-match losing streak with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over Xavier Malisse at this weeks Farmers’ Classic in Los Angeles.
Guess who is the new coach of Ana Ivanovic… Thats right its Andy Murray’s girlfriends father! Andy Murray is with Kim Sears who happens to be the daughter of Nigel Sears. Nigel was the head of Women’s tennis at the LTA, but has now quit the day job to become Ana Ivanovic’s new coach.
“I couldn’t be happier,“ said Ana. “I’ve admired Nigel for some time now, and I can’t wait to start working with him on court.”
Lleyton Hewitt has announced that Tony Roche will become his new coach for 2011. Roche previously coached Hewitt between July 2007 and August 2009 and was last month re-appointed Australian Davis Cup coach under new captain Pat Rafter.
“I’m really looking forward to working with both guys and feel that if I can keep the body performing then I can climb back up the ranks again,” said Hewitt, who has slid to No.55 in the rankings.
“I have been discussing this with Rochey for a few months now prior to him accepting the job as Australian Davis Cup coach, and when he asked me about taking that role with Pat, I thought that would work in well with what we were planning for myself.”
Do you think with the help of Tony Roche that Lleyton Hewitt will be able to lift his game and challenge for Grand Slam titles again?
Yesterday we reported that Andy Murray had split from Miles Maclagan, but now The Guardian has suggested that the Scot will likely begin a coaching tenor with Australian coach Darren Cahill after the US Open.
Murray, who is currently sponsored by Adidas, would have an opportunity to work with Cahill based on the clothing and shoe maker’s development program. Cahill has also worked with other Adidas players, such as Ana Ivanovic, Fernando Gonzalez, and Fernando Verdasco.
Cahill will continue to fulfill his broadcasting duties for ESPN throughout the summer, while Murray will work with part-time coach Alex Corretja
Andy Murray has announced on his site that he is no longer working with Miles Maclagan. Anyway, according to an article by The Telegraph there have been rumblings for weeks and it wasn’t so mutual though still amicable. The rumour is that Murray was keen to keep Miles on his coaching team, but Miles wanted a break.
Alex Corretja has been working with Andy Murray for a long time as a part-time advisor. Corretja will remain and will help Murray get ready for the US Open and US Hard court season.
Nikolay Davydenko is reported to not be working with his coach/brother Eduardo Davydenko anymore. Eduardo was helping Nikolay on a week to week basis, so does this mean Nikolay has now found a more permanent coach?
Eduardo at present is focusing more on his 17 year old son Philip and coaching him to become a professional player. Nikolay needs a fulltime professional coach and Eduardo was just unable to commit.
It is now official, Peter Lundgren is now the coach of Stanislas Wawrinka.
Peter Lundgren on the new pairing:
“When I asked what he wanted help with, he said he wants to return to the Top 10. It’s what you want to hear as a coach.
“I’m going to try to get Stan to become more aggressive.”
Over the years Peter Lundgren has help some great players, including Roger Federer, Marcelo Rios, Marat Safin and Marcos Baghdatis.
Lundgren is one of the best coaches in the world, but do you think he will help Stanislas become one of the top players in the world?
Novak Djokovic has decided to make a change and hire a new fitness coach. Novak still understands that he is still a lot way behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and hopefully this new addition will bring some improvements.
Djokovic has hired Gebhard Phil-Gritsch, famous for coaching Austrian clay-court specialist Thomas Muster to the No. 1 ranking during the 1990s. “I felt that I needed a change,” Djokovic, 21, said Friday. “I needed something new to improve on.”
As to the specifics of his new regimen, neither the Serb nor his manager, Benito Perez-Barbadillo, would delve into any details. But at the very least, it seems the shuffling has boosted the confidence of an already confident Djokovic. Conditioning has been cited as a weakness in Djokovic’s game over the last few seasons. There has been a sense that the immensely talented Serb is more vulnerable than his opponents to the extreme heat frequently experienced Down Under in January or on the U.S. summer circuit.
Austria Fed Cup captain Alfred Tesar will leave his job after eight years at the end of the season, the country’s tennis federation said Thursday.
“Alfred Tesar and the Fed Cup team achieved outstanding successes,” federation general secretary Peter Teuschl said. “But after eight years … it’s time for a new start.”
The federation has yet to name a new captain.
“In the current situation, we have not found a common denominator to successfully continue my work,” the 60-year-old Tesar said.
In its first match under Tesar in 2002, Austria upset the highly favored United States 3-2. The team went on to reach the World Group semifinals that year and again in 2004, but had little success afterward and was relegated to the Europe-Africa Zone in 2008.
Roger Federer is again looking for another coach as Jose Higueras is the new USTAs Director of Coaching for Elite Player Development. Higueras was employed by Federer to improve his results in the clay court season.
The new person tipped for the job is of course Aussie Darren Cahill. Cahill guided Lleyton Hewitt to the top of his game and then helped Agassi make a major comeback late in his career. However, Las Vegas-based Cahill, currently a television analyst with ESPN, has been a long-term coaching target of Federer ever since he split with Peter Lundgren at the end of 2003. The Adelaide-born Aussie was a close friend of the late Peter Carter, Federer’s coach during his formative years who was tragically killed in a South African road accident.
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