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Federer: There’s no panic in my team


 

Originally published on: 27/07/12 00:00

Federer’s recent successes have followed his appointment of Paul Annacone as his coach in the latter part of 2010. The American used to work with Pete Sampras and Tim Henman and had joined the Federer team after a spell working with the Lawn Tennis Association in Britain.

Annacone joined an entourage which already included a number of people who had been associated with Federer for several years, including Severin Luthi, the world No.1's Davis Cup captain, Pierre Paganini, his fitness trainer, and Stephane Vivier, his physiotherapist.

“Really what I felt very much in the last few months, particularly, maybe in the last year, was the harmony we had in the team,” Federer said. “Paul integrated himself really nicely into the team, with Severin, Pierre, Stephane, all my people involved. There's never a sense of panic in my team. Rain delays, before matches, we know exactly what to do. We’ve got into a great routine.

“I really try to gear up in a way so that we get together before the French Open and stay together as a team all the way through to the US Open, with the whole families, wives and kids, so everyone can tag along, no problem, to say: ‘Let's just go through this, winning or losing, together.’ That was the goal months ago.”

He added: “It's nice to win in a team, to be honest. It's great, because you do feel lonely sometimes on court. That's why the Olympic gold in Beijing [with Stan Wawrinka] was so nice. Sometimes when you have a team competition, you can win it as a team.”

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.