Paul Annacone on Roger Federer's pre-match routines and the pre-season

American Paul Annacone is known to be one of the best coaches in tennis, having worked with Roger Federer and Pete Sampras during their prime. Annacone worked with Sampras from January 1995 till the end of the 2001 season and again in 2002. He started working with Federer in the second half of 2010 and worked with the Swiss legend till 2013. 

Paul Annaconne on Roger Federer's pre-match routines

Annaconne recently made an appearance on the Tennis Haus Online Tips YouTube channel, where he spoke about his coaching stint with the Swiss tennis legend.  "I think the great players, the ones I've been around, realize there isn't a magic formula. They tick all the professionalism boxes. Roger was very systematic about the pre-season. His strength and conditioning coach Pierre Paganini is a genius. Pierre would coordinate with me."

Annacone also spoke about the pre-match routines that Federer followed while they worked together. "He has his routines. When I was with him, we usually the night before would have a brief talk for 5-10 minutes about what tomorrow's match looked like strategy-wise. We had just to make sure we were on the same page. Then on the day of the match, he'd wake up, he'd do this treatment, then he'd do his warm-up on the court hitting some balls. After the warm-up, he'll have his meal and usually between warm-up and when he plays, we go over again what we talked about the night before for the match."

As a player, Annacone reached No. 2 in the world rankings and won 3 ATP singles titles. In doubles, he won 14 titles, including the 1985 Australian Open doubles title, and reached the World No. 3 spot. Besides working with Sampras and Federer, Annacone also worked briefly with American Sloane Stephens. Currently, he is coaching American ATP player Taylor Fritz.

Roger Federer holds the record for most number of Grand Slam singles titles in men's tennis history with 20 Grand Slam titles. He turned 39 years old on August 8th and is currently ranked No. 4 in the world. He is currently recovering from a knee injury and has decided to skip the 2020 season, adding that he plans to come back in 2021. Federer is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time in men's tennis.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3iB7aHK