Coaches on the merry-go-round

Written by: Staff on 13th November 2010

Coaches on the merry-go-round |

They are rum coves, coaches. As with goalkeepers and undertakers (two professions that share a similar sense of humour), it takes a special kind of mentality to do the job properly. And even if the financial rewards are not bad for your average tennis coach, the risks are huge: when your player wins, your player is a genius; when your player loses, you are an idiot. No wonder they are an odd bunch.

This summer, the coaching fraternity has been chopping and changing jobs to a band playing – it’s been like a Ladies’ Excuse Me out there. Paul Annacone has left Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association and moved in with Roger Federer, Miles Maclagan has moved out of Team Murray and left Scotland’s finest to his own devices and Peter Lundgren (pictured above) has joined forces with Stanislas Wawrinka.

All of this happened in the space of a couple of weeks and the results have been immediate: Federer is now playing attacking tennis and is looking better than he has in months, Wawrinka is into the quarter finals of the US Open, his best ever result at a grand slam, and Andy Murray is back at home having been thumped by Stan the Man in the third round.

Hilariously, the LTA were touting Annacone for interview in the first week of the Open. The former coach to Pete Sampras and Tim Henman still had three months left to run on his contract with the Brits and he was only spending a limited number of weeks with the Mighty Fed until November when he would, officially, become a free man. Come and talk to him, the LTA suggested to the British press, and we can explain the situation.

But the British press being what they are – and I am one of them, so I ought to know – immediately cut to the chase. What happens if Murray and Federer get to the final? Won’t it look a) like a conflict of interest b) rather embarrassing c) pretty darned stupid if Annacone is coaching Federer on how to beat Murray? And doing so while receive a whacking great pay cheque from the LTA? Cue much clearing of throats and shuffling of feet on the part of the LTA.

A few days later, and just before the Muzza faced Stan, the LTA announced that Annacone was “stepping down” from his post as head coach of men’s tennis (presumably after receiving a hefty push in the back) in order to avoid a “conflict of interest”. And six hours later, Stan beat Muzz as one P. Annacone must have rued his early resignation.

You have to hand it to the LTA’s publicity department: if they see a foot shod in an LTA boot, they immediately grab the 12-bore and take aim…

Actually, the whole coaching world is a very incestuous place. Annacone used to work for the LTA but now coaches Federer; Lundgren used to coach Federer before working with the LTA and ending up with Wawrinka; the LTA has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to coaches from around the world and now have no one left in the main draw. However, two of their former employees still have players in the quarter finals. It’s a funny old world.

Still, the USTA have hardly escaped unscathed during the course of the US Open and for once, it is not the players or the tennis fans who are up in arms. No, it is the bar owners of New York who have an axe to grind with blazers wearers and their guests.

It seems that a roof-top bar at the Empire Hotel got into a spot of bother with their neighbours recently. “Too noisy!” the locals complained as the browsers and sluicers at the bar supped long into the night. The neighbours complained to the authorities that the bar owners were breaking a city ordinance by allowing the party animals to whoop it up – “the right to use and enjoy their respective apartments”.

When the courts upheld the complaint, the city’s bar and nightclub owners got very twitchy. Basically, it meant that any light-sleeping neighbour could have a bar closed down if his shut-eye had been interrupted by a braying boozer.

So who, exactly, had been causing all the noise? Well, the roof-top bar (which usually stays open until around 4 a.m.) had hosted several shindigs of late, including one party from the United States Tennis Association.

It is just a good job that the USTA did not mention this to the LTA or the London-based publicity and communications gurus would have issued a press release and invited the TV news crews along to film the fun.

And finally, 10sballs.com has an exclusive story to reveal to you, our loyal readers: Jeff Tarango is not making a comeback – it’s official.

Once the bad boy of tennis, Tarango now lives quietly in Manhattan Beach, California (or as quietly as it possible to live in a house packed with five kids). He is certainly a more subdued soul than the one who once, during an impromptu party, autographed the living room wall of a very expensive house in Dubai while the owners of said wall were elsewhere. But that is a story for another day.

Anyway – Jeff, he of the tantrums and racquet smashing (perhaps he might like to enter our Facebook competition and try to win one of 12 pro racquets that we have up for grabs) revealed this startling news on the bus back to town the other night. He also chortled greatly as he reminisced about tantrums past. A particular favourite of his was the time he finished a rant at an erring umpire by yelling: “You only do this job for the free shoes!” My, how we laughed.

Still, Mr T got his comeuppance a couple of days ago. Getting off yet another bus, he bumped into a lady line judge of a certain age. “You’re Jeff Tarango,” she gasped, thus proving that, contrary to popular player opinion, not all officials are as blind as a bat. “I’ve been calling lines for you since you were 12,” she went on, “and I always enjoyed giving you bad calls.” For once Jeff was speechless. And who said karma was just a load of old tosh?

Topics: Andy Murray, Changing Jobs, Conflict Of Interest, Cut To The Chase, Financial Rewards, Goalkeepers, Grand Slam, Lawn Tennis Association, Lta, Maclagan, Odd Bunch, Paul Annacone, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Sense Of Humour, Stan The Man, Stanislas Wawrinka, Team Murray, Tennis Coach, Tim Henman