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January 22, 2005
Relaxed Federer a perfect fit for Roche
By Emma Quayle, The Age
Roger Federer's relaxed nature - more than his tennis ability -
convinced Tony Roche to sign a 10-week coaching deal with the
world's best player.
Roche will help the Swiss star prepare for each grand slam
tournament this year, and said yesterday that while his game needed
only limited tweaking, Federer wanted badly to stay ahead of the
inevitable pack.
The 59-year-old, who will continue to work with Sophie Ferguson
and other emerging young Australian players, coached Ivan Lendl to
eight grand slam championships and guided Pat Rafter to the No.1
ranking and a pair of US Open titles.
"I don't think anything's missing. Roger's a very complete
tennis player and he's No.1 at the moment and at the top of the
tree, but he knows that everybody's after him and that you've got
to keep improving," Roche said yesterday.
"I don't think you can afford to sit back and say, 'I've
achieved this and I'm happy with where I'm at.' You can always
improve and I think that's where he's at right now.
"We had a meeting and talked it over, and he's a very laid-back
person and I like working with people like that.
"I was lucky. A lot of people had the wrong impression, I think,
of Ivan Lendl but he had a great personality and I enjoyed that and
everybody knows Pat's personality and what he was like. It's nice
to work with nice people and we haven't been together too long, but
I certainly like what I see."
Roche had been been pursued by Federer since the Swiss champion
split with former coach Peter Lundgren at the end of 2003, but
knocked back an initial offer to work with him because he did not
want to spend too much time on the road. He said to keep Federer in
top spot was as big a challenge for him as it was for the
23-year-old, and that relationship was a fairly casual one that
would concentrate on getting him ready for each major
tournament.
"It's a relationship where when Roger's got particular weeks
that he wants to work on his game, then he'll give me a call and
we'll get together. I'm not going to be travelling an awful lot,"
Roche said.
"It will just be little things here and there, but it's more
coming into an event - what surface you're playing on, what you'll
be using a lot more - and trying to gear your preparation around
that.
"It's always a challenge. It's changing at a great pace, the
men's game, and you've sort of got to keep up with things."
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