Annacone must retire..........................................

....With immediate effect. Not that he is not doing his job properly but he is wasting his time doing a job which will produce no results.
I hardly ever get wound-up by a players general play besides choking but i have to say, Federer's Park-Side volleying display especially in the 2nd set got to me. Annacone is doing his best to improve the volleying of Federer, a flat-footed baseliner but it seems it's a big task. Make no mistake, I thought he improved a bit but that is often because in previous matches the volleys were lying shoulder high for him to hit. Anything below shoulder heights ends up into the net. Infact Federer's poor display in patches was to blame for Nadal's equally poor performance. I actually thought Federer played well on key points throughout the match but was atrocious at times at the net. Getting pass with ease as he panicks and cluelessly rushes to the net. Volleying is a technique which requires great hands and great forward movement with the foot work but Federer is just not a good volleyer. A decent one i say but what is Annacone doing then? Questions must be asked.

1. Is Annacone there to improve Federer's volleying or his tactically awareness, an area he is very poor at.

2. Can he go on getting fat pay checks without seeing any improvements in Federer's volleying and still carry on? Morality issues at stake here.

3. Should he not resign and take on coaching an up and coming youngster who has the talents to succeed at the net?

For Federer this all but ends any laughable notion he is any where close to GOAT let alone being one. WOAT- Weakest of All Time(In a Weak Era i agree). Now the slam head to head only for finals and semis is 2-8 against Nadal. 2-6 slam finals and 0-2 semi finals.
HC outdoor head to head 1-5. 0-2 in hc slams. Infact it's better to conclude and say against Nadal, Federer has never been good enough. Hard i know but those are facts. Sure Nadal is struggling against Djokovic but he at least had being dominated in 1 year. Federer has had 8 years to figure out Nadal's game and still clueless. How hard could it be? Nadal did not even bother to play much to his back hand today.

I know this article might sound harsh and overly critical but it's the truth. If Annacone and Federer had discussed winning end of season titles when the top players are tired or not bothered is the aim, fine with me but if beating his main rivals and winning slams is the aim coupled with improvements in Federer's volleying, then he should retire. Federer is failing at it, not Annacone.

Where was all this talk when Fed won Basel, Paris and the WTF in London ?

Duh Eric, those tourneys don't count

That of course might mean that's the aim to win Basel and WTF

Well if he can't win a slam he may as well settle for the next biggest tournament.

Basel Open?

Well if he can't win a slam he may as well settle for the next biggest tournament.

I have accepted Federer won't win another big tournament other than MS/WTF. I think everyone who supported him over the years needs to do the same

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

Well if he can't win a slam he may as well settle for the next biggest tournament.

I have accepted Federer won't win another big tournament other than MS/WTF. I think everyone who supported him over the years needs to do the same

talk about throwing in the towel! wheres the faith eh??? never stop dreaming of that goal! MOT!

I remember people saying this stuff about Sampras when he went nearly 2 years without winning a title of any description. Until USO 2002 where he won it when he was seeded 17th and there were some decent players seeded ahead of him:-

1.Lleyton Hewitt (Semifinals)
2. Marat Safin (Second Round)
3. Tommy Haas (Fourth Round)
4. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Second Round)
5. Tim Henman (Third Round)
6. Andre Agassi (Final)
7. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Third Round)
8. Albert Costa (Second Round)
9. Carlos Moyà (Second Round)
10. Sébastien Grosjean (Second Round)
11. Andy Roddick (Quarterfinals)
12. Thomas Johansson (Withdrew)
13. Roger Federer (Fourth Round)
14. Jiří Novák (Fourth Round)
15. Guillermo Cañas (Withdrew)
16. David Nalbandian (First Round)
17. Pete Sampras (Champion)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles

"A decent one i say but what is Annacone doing then? Questions must be asked."


He is probably there to spy on Federer's current weaknesses in his game so that he can pass these onto Pete Sampras for when Federer makes his debut on the over 35's Senior Tour.

Eric, amuse me more with comparisons with Sampras. Pete won those late slamd by playing Serve and Volley rushing the younger players. What is Federer going to do to win another slam? Serve and Clueless net rushing?

Simple_Analyst wrote:Eric, amuse me more with comparisons with Sampras. Pete won those late slamd by playing Serve and Volley rushing the younger players. What is Federer going to do to win another slam? Serve and Clueless net rushing?

Do me a favour. Which "youngster" did Pete beat to win his last slam in 2002? None other than that "extremely old" teenager Andre Agassi.

You left a '.' out of the topic title - careless!

Really Newballs? Why should i remind you when you made it amusing by saying Agassi?

What are you gonna do if Novak defeats Nadal a 7th straight time in finals?

>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcctWbC8Q0 Simple Analyst

why so amusing S_A?

Serve and clueless net rushing was enough for Pete to beat a rapidly balding Agassi.

Federer was beaten by a much tougher opponent on the day. Doubtful that Pete's brand of tennis would have done any better.

Of course if you're so much more knowledgeable about these matters then feel free to enlighten me again.

No i am particularly interested in you earlier declaration the only youngster Sampras beat for his USO 2002 was Agassi.

S_A "extremely old" teenager was an attempted joke.

Sorry that it went right over your head so I'll keep it simpler next time.

Simple_Analyst wrote:No i am particularly interested in you earlier declaration the only youngster Sampras beat for his USO 2002 was Agassi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjSk9krYg5U

you are meg

Annacone is already retired since 1993. He no longer plays the ATP tour.

Should Uncle Toni also retire?

I think people blaming Annacone is misplaced. I think the changes Annacone has made to Fed's game have allowed Fed to maintain as much of his game as possible. The top 2 guys are just better and younger than him right now. Fed is at least 3 years past his physical prime, he is still putting up great results for a nearly 31 year old player. Since bringing in Annacone he has won 2 World tour finals the next biggest event after the grandslams. The absolute best Annacone could do is to slow the natural and inevitable degradation of fed's game and I think he has done a good job.

For one thing Fed isn't chipping every single backhand return and is going up the line more. Using the net rushes to shorten points is a good strategy. A tough one to pull off against Nadal on a slow court, especially if you tank a couple of easy ones. But it is the right strategy at this stage of his career.

Murray lost today. Should Lendl retire, SA?

I have created a petition for Javier Piles, Tomas Krupa, Franco Davin and Brad Gilbert (consultant) to be fired as well.

I expect you to be the first signatory on that petition.