Annacone: "Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are aberrations"

August 28, 2010 Paul Annacone was hired by Roger Federer as his full-time coach after a month-long trial period. Also thanks to his contribution, the Swiss champion conquered his sixth ATP Finals, the seventh career Wimbledon Championships and many other tournaments.

Due to his knee surgery, Federer will lose the 500 points of the 2019 Dubai victory, the 1600 points scored last season between Indian Wells (final lost against Thiem) and Miami (victory) and the 720 of the semifinal at Roland Garros. The former world number 1 expected to return to Halle in June.

“He just got to the semis of the Aussie Open by the skin of his teeth basically, but he was there, and those are the moments all those greats live for,” Annacone said in a recent interview the New York Times. “So I’m not quite ready to write him off. And you look at his grass-court record and how unique his game is for grass, I don’t see any reason he can’t still win Wimbledon."

“The big challenge in my experience is the older you get, the harder it is to come back from anything,” he added. “But these all-time greats are aberrations, not the rule, so you risk your own peril to predict what’s going to happen, pro or con. In 2010, when I started with him, people were wondering when he was going to retire.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3c05Dsl