NEW ZEALAND QUAKE

ITF has called off the senior’s tennis tournament in New Zealand, due to the earth quake which was happened in Christchurch. The Seniors Tennis Event which is scheduled to be held from February 21st-26th, 2011, has been called off.

ITF has canceled the senior tennis, which is equivalent to the Davis Cup, the men’s and women’s with the age groups from 35 to 55-plus are the top American amateurs, who will venture to New Zealand this year from Feb. 21-26.

The International tennis Federation organizers said that, we will make every effort to ensure that the competitors of the Seniors World Individual Championships will safely return to their homes.

Ricci Bitti Francesco, the President of ITF has said on Wednesday that, we are taking very effort to relive all the players, captains and officials who are there in Christchurch and we are aware of the loss of life and the large number of injuries due to the earthquake.

At least 75 people were killed on Tuesday, due to the earthquake at Christchurch and most of the tallest buildings have been topples and buses have been crushed off.

The Seniors World Team Championships in nearby Timaru and Ashburton will go ahead as scheduled.

LIVETENNISGUIDE

TV TENNIS TODAY THURSDAY TORONTO

 

On SN1 [Bell 418]:

Dubai 10 am [now] and 3 pm

Acapulco – 8 pm

GAME, SET, CAREER - ANCIC QUITS

By Sports Network

The Sports Network

Croatia's Mario Ancic has decided to retire from the ATP World Tour.

Plagued by injuries and illness during his tennis career, Ancic will now turn his focus to a career in law. He called it quits after 10 years.

"It was one of the toughest decisions I ever had to make," Ancic said. "I'm only 26, but my body said I would not be able to continue on a high level."

"I was advised to either undergo surgery or go through a conservative method, but I had no guarantee with either option."

In 2008, Ancic graduated from the University of Split with a degree in law.

The 6-foot-5 Croat made his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon in 2002, upsetting a seventh-seeded Roger Federer in the opening round. Federer didn't lose again at the All England Club until Rafael beat him in the final there six years later.

Ancic captured three titles and reached a career-high No. 7 in the world in 2006. His best-ever Grand Slam showing was a trip into the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2004.

The talented Ancic, who helped Croatia win its lone Davis Cup title in 2005, struggled with mononucleosis in 2007 and had most-recently been slowed by back and knee problems.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/23/2081207/ancic-retires-from-atp.html#ixzz1EoguRxYU

SUDDEN DEATH IN ACAPULCO

Tennis players have been warned about security ahead of the start of the Mexican Open in the troubled Pacific resort of Acapulco.

The professional men's tennis association, the ATP, cautioned against travelling outside hotels.

Players were advised to leave the city immediately after being eliminated from the tournament.

Mexico's government has assured the ATP that appropriate security measures have been put in place.

Several arrests have been made following a recent spate of drug-related violence in the city.

A weekend of attacks on taxis in the city left 12 drivers or passengers dead, the Associated Press news agency quotes local police as saying.

Dozens of cars have also been burned in recent days but the motives were not clear, AP reported.

In January, the bodies of 15 headless men were found outside a shopping centre in the resort.

RODDICK SQUEEZES BY RAONIC

by ATP Staff

20.02.2011

Top seed Andy Roddick ended Milos Raonic’s courageous run at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, prevailing 7-6(7), 6-7(11), 7-5 on Sunday to claim his 30th tour-level title and third in Memphis.

World No. 8 Roddick became the third active player on the ATP World Tour to win 30 or more career singles titles, joining Roger Federer (67) and Rafael Nadal (43). He also became the eighth American-born player to accomplish the feat.

Both players had their share of opportunities in the two tie-breaks. Roddick, who was playing in his 50th tour-level final, clinched the first set with his eighth ace of the match after saving two set points. In the second set, Raonic fought off elimination as he faced down three match points at 6-5, 8-7 and 10-9 and converted on his fourth set point of the tie-break.

Roddick had two chances to build a 5-1 lead in the third set, but Raonic rallied to hold and then capitalised on his fifth break point in the ensuing game to get back on serve. Raonic continued his fight, saving a fourth match point at 4-5, but was unable to come up with an answer on Roddick’s next opportunity.

On a dramatic match point, Raonic stretched Roddick wide to the ad court with a penetrating inside-out forehand and proceeded to the net. Roddick replied with a searching down-the-line back, which Raonic did well to cover and angled away a crisp forehand volley that looked good enough to get him back to deuce. But Roddick, desperate to avoid a third consecutive tie-break with the Canadian, hustled back to the deuce court and then lunged forward into a diving down-the-line forehand pass into the open court.

Roddick was left with with a grazed right forearm, but it was a small price to pay for the return. It was a dramatic end to a dramatic final, and most likely the best championship point the tournament has ever seen.

Roddick, 28, improved to a 35-7 record at this ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court tournament. He also won the title in 2002 and ’09, and was runner-up in 2003 and ’07.

The top American has now won an ATP World Tour title for 11 straight years, best among active players along with Federer. Earlier this season, Roddick finished runner-up to Robin Soderling at the Brisbane International.

Raonic, who was making just his ninth tour-level main draw appearance, was contesting his second final in as many weeks. The 20-year-old Canadian had won the SAP Open title last Sunday with victory over World No. 9 Fernando Verdasco. He beat Verdasco again in the first round this week.

With a total of 32 aces in the final, Raonic set a new tournament record of 129 aces, surpassing Mark Philippoussis’ mark of 106 in 2001. He hit a career and tournament-high 38 aces in his win against Radek Stepanek on Thursday. He had reached the final by winning four straight three-set matches, including third set tie-break wins over Verdasco and Stepanek.

Despite his loss, Raonic is projected to climb to No. 37 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings on Monday, making him the highest-ranked Canadian man in ATP Rankings history. Greg Rusedski was No. 41 in June 1994.

MILOS RAONIC SERVE

MEMPHIS FINAL – RODDICK-RAONIC

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Top seed Andy Roddick advanced to the Memphis Championship final with a 6-3 6-4 win over Juan Martin Del Potro on Saturday and will face big-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic.

The 20-year-old Raonic, coming off his first tournament win last week at the San Jose Open, fired 23 aces in the earlier semi-final to beat American Mardy Fish 6-4 4-6 6-3.

Del Potro, who held serve en route to his second semi-final in two weeks, was broken by Roddick in the second game of the match as the American established a 3-0 lead in eight minutes.

Roddick, seeking the 30th title of his career, had lost his three previous matches against del Potro but held on for the victory in one hour and 34 minutes.

Raonic, who burst onto the scene by reaching the fourth round of last month's Australian Open, saved five of the six break points he faced and won 85 percent of points behind his powerful first serve to dismiss Fish in just under two hours.

The Canadian, who started the year ranked 159th and will break into the top 50 next week, said he is starting to tire after a trio of three-set wins in four days but will be ready to play in his second straight final.

"I am starting to feel the fatigue but I don't think it's anything I can't overcome," Raonic said in an interview posted on the ATP website (www.atpworldtour.com).

"I've put in the hours and I've done the work for these kinds of moments so I look to relish off them and use all that effort I've put in and this is the time to shine."

ROANIC TOP 50!!

Fast-rising Canadian Milos Raonic will crack the Top 50 of the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings on Monday after reaching the semi-finals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships Friday with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over American Robert Kendrick.

The 20-year-old Raonic has made the biggest jump in the Top 100 South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings from the 2010 year-end standings, climbing from No. 156 to a career-high No. 59 this week after compiling an 11-2 record at the start of the season. He broke through as a qualifier at the Australian Open, where he reached the fourth round (l. to Ferrer) after beating World No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny, and last week won his maiden ATP World Tour title (d. Verdasco) in San Jose.

ATP

38 ACES IN 3 SETS

 

(AFP) MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Milos Raonic hammered a career-high 38 aces defeating Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-7 (10/12), 7-6 (7/1) to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP/WTA Memphis event.

After dropping a marathon second set tiebreaker, Canada's Raonic needed a tiebreaker in the third to oust the Czech star and post his sixth consecutive victory.

He will next face American qualifier Robert Kendrick for a spot in the semi-finals.

FIRST ROUND, LAST ROUND

Associated Press

MEMPHIS -- Milos Raonic beat No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday night in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, his second victory over Verdasco in four days.

Raonic, a 20-year-old Canadian and the fastest rising young star on the ATP Tour, beat Verdasco on Sunday in the final of the SAP Open in San Jose for his first career title.

He has risen from 159 in the world to start the year to 59 this week.

"I'm happy with the outcome, but I think there are things I can improve on the match that I'll take time to think about," Raonic said. "But I can't be unsatisfied with this result."

He said beating Verdasco on Sunday did provide a confidence boost.

A frustrated Verdasco lamented having to play the hard-serving Raonic twice in conditions that favor his game and not Verdasco's. The points were quickly played.

"For me that's not a real match in tennis," Verdasco said. "I hope to play soon against him in clay court to show him what it is to play tennis, and play rallies, and run, and not only serve."

THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY

What the hell!

What got into the media moguls' heads when they cancelled greased-pig wrasslin to show this wimpy  tennis match!

RAONIC TAKES SAN JOSE

By Matthew Cronin

SAN JOSE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Canadian prospect Milos Raonic enhanced his growing reputation with a stunning 7-6 7-6 upset victory over top seed and defending champion Fernando Verdasco to win his first title at the San Jose Open on Sunday.

The unseeded 20-year-old displayed maturity and confidence beyond his years in blasting 13 aces and claiming 49 of his 56 first serve points against the ninth ranked Spaniard.

"It (first tour win) came quicker than expected and it was amazing," said Raonic, who registered 50 winners to offset 30 unforced errors. "I can't stop smiling about it."

While Verdasco was generally unable to deal with the Raonic serve, he did forge a 6-2 lead in the first tiebreaker but could not convert any of his four set points.

He missed a forehand pass, saw the Canadian crack service and forehand winners and then missed a simple forehand to let the final opportunity slip from his grasp.

Raonic, who was ranked 84th at the start of the event, made the most of his opponent's profligacy by earning a set point of his own with a backhand winner before taking the tiebreaker 8-6 with another huge serve.

"I used up my luck today in the tiebreaker and then in the second set I got more confident," Raonic said.

The second set went much the same way as the first with both men holding fairly easily. Verdasco held his only break point at 4-4 but Raonic responded with another service winner.

The two went into another tiebreaker, where on Raonic's third match point, he torched 138mph serve at Verdasco's forehand but before the Spaniard made contact with the ball, a fan yelled "yes" and the top seed netted his return

The chair umpire refused to replay the point, allowing Raonic to claim the tiebreaker 7-5 and the match.

ROLAND GARROS MAY FLY AGAIN

PARIS: Stars of tennis, politics and music have been trading shots in a tense contest over whether to relocate the French Open, amid complaints that expanding the Paris home of the tournament would disfigure a botanical garden built under Louis XV.

Rafael Nadal, the world's best tennis player and the French Open champion, is among those opposing the move.

The French Tennis Federation is due today to decide the fate of Roland Garros as the venue of the tournament from 2016.

The federation must rule whether to renovate and expand the existing site in Paris's chic 16th arrondissement or move the competition to one of three venues in the suburbs.

The options are next to the Palace of Versailles, Marne-la-Vallee (the home to Disneyland Paris) or Gonesse, near Le Bourget airport.

There is general acceptance that Roland Garros needs a spring clean and more space. At 8.5 hectares it is the smallest of the four grand slam venues and less than half Wimbledon's size.

Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, has proposed building a retractable roof over the main stadium and adding a 5000-seater court in the adjacent botanical gardens, les Serres d'Auteuil.

This has prompted resistance from people who say it will encroach on the gardens, built in 1761. More than 35,000 have signed an online petition against it and their cause has been taken up by Francoise Hardy, a 1960s pop singer. ''We fear a building project like this will de-nature and disfigure this site,'' she wrote in the newspaper Le Monde.

Delanoe has claimed the gardens would be respected, that only modern greenhouses would be demolished and would be replaced by more tasteful ones, and that ''not one leaf will be damaged''.

His plan, seen as narrow favourite among the 180 national federation delegates, has received the backing of a special commission of elected officials, architects and historians.

Francois de Mazieres, the mayor of Versailles, has accused Paris's town hall of foul play for releasing a report calling his project ''unfeasible'' as it would blight the view from the nearby palace and gardens.

The other two sites have been described as ''at the end of the world'' and ''lacking glamour''. However, they would allow the tennis federation to own its site instead of paying a long-term lease.

Reports suggest that Paris and Versailles will be chosen as preferred bidders, heralding a run-off that could last up to three months.

Past and present stars have voiced their dismay at the proposed move. The Frenchman Yannick Noah, who won the French Open in 1983, said it would be a slur on the memory of the ''musketeers'' - the four Frenchmen whose Davis Cup victory over the US in 1927 inspired the building of Roland Garros stadium.

Nadal, the world's No.1 player, said last year: ''It's very important, whereas if we move elsewhere, maybe the site is going to be bigger, we're going to lose part of our soul''.

Nadal's long-time rival, Roger Federer, called for change without taking sides. ''Roland Garros is the most cramped of all the grand slams,'' he said. ''The players and the fans feel that even if it's quite a nice experience, it's quite tough to live in every day.''

Telegraph, London

ROANIC WALKS INTO THE FINALS

 

AFP

SAN JOSE, California — Gael Monfils will need up to six weeks to recover from a left wrist injury, meaning he is likely to miss the first round of France's Davis Cup clash with Austria next month.

Monfils reached the semi-finals of the ATP tournament here Friday however tournament organisers announced soon afterwards the French number two seed, who is ranked 12th in the world, had pulled out.

A statement on the organisers' website, www.sapopentennis.com, said: "SAP Open number two seed Gael Monfils was forced to withdraw from the semifinals due to left wrist injury (inflammation) and has also withdrawn from Memphis, Acapulco and Davis Cup.

"He will be out for four to six weeks and hopes to return for Indian Wells."

Monfils, who has a reputation for being plagued by injury, is right-handed. However his injury prevents him from playing his two-handed backhand effectively.

"It's been a month and a half that I've had this pain," the Frenchman added on the website.

"I can?t hit my backhand. I tried, but my backhand is very soft. I have a better backhand than I showed here - more powerful."

The setback handed Canadian Milos Raonic, Monfils's semi-final opponent, a place in the final where he will meet either Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina or Spanish top seed Fernando Verdasco

RAONIC IN SEMIS

Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final after a straight-sets win over Lithuanian Richard Berankis 6-4, 7-6(2) at the SAP Open in San Jose. In their first meeting, Raonic’s serve proved too strong for Berankis as he fired 12 aces and dropped only five points on his first serve. In the first set, he saved the lone break point he faced in match.

Raonic has made the biggest jump from last year’s year-end rankings, improving from No. 152 to No. 84. He is guaranteed to move to a career-high ranking next week and break into the World’s Top 75 with his result today.

Up next for Raonic will be second-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils or American wildcard and home favourite Tim Smyzcek for a place in the SAP Open final.

ATP

RAONIC TAKES OUT BLAKE

Milos Raonic continued to make his mark early in the 2011 ATP World Tour season, reaching the quarter-finals at the SAP Open with a  6-2, 7-6(4) win over former World No. 4 James Blake on Wednesday in San Jose.

Raonic was unable to serve out the match after going up a break at 5-4, but pulled through in the tie-break to secure victory in 70 minutes. He won 91 per cent of his first serve points and put 13 aces past the 31-year-old Blake, who was contesting his first tournament since October.

The 84th-ranked Canadian is through to his second tour-level quarter-final, first reaching this stage in September at Kuala Lumpur. He made an impressive run last month at the Australian Open, reaching the fourth round as a qualifier with his first Top 10 win against Mikhail Youzhny.

THE MOTHER THAT ROARED

Hard to relax ... Judy Murray. Photo: AP

The world No.5's entourage was more hindrance than help during the final, writes Peter Hanlon.

OF ALL the vision that should trouble Andy Murray if he can bring himself to press 'Play' and review Sunday night's Melbourne Park massacre, his most cringeworthy moments had nothing to do with hitting a tennis ball.

Judy Murray is a bona fide tennis coach - although not officially that of her son, who split with Miles Maclagan last year and works sporadically with Spaniard Alex Corretja. Like all tennis parents she has every right to attend her son's matches, get up out of her seat and bellow ''Come on!'' with the best of them. But would it really harm his game if she did it from 20 rows back? And if she took his various fitness advisers and human sounding boards with her, and let Murray work his way through matches himself, could he be any more lost for answers or inspiration than he was on Sunday night?

Coaching from the bleachers is officially a no-no in tennis, and on Sunday night, the most telling case for tennis players to submit themselves to a bit of tough love came at the end of the first set, when an agitated Murray raised both hands in a calming motion from his courtside seat and mouthed ''Relax'' to his team. Clearly, it wasn't only Djokovic who was getting the Scot's dander up.

If they weren't there, his sole focus might have been on working out a way to get back into the match, an assignment which the fifth-best player in the world should probably be able to tackle on his own.

The Sydney Morning Herald

smh.com.au

NESTOR ADDS OZ MIXED TITLE

Slovenian Srebotnik and Canadian Nestor edged Australia's Paul Hanley and Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan 6-3 3-6 (10-7) after a super tie breaker on Rod Laver Arena.

Srebotnik had won four previous grand slam mixed doubles titles -- the last two with Nenad Zimonjic -- but it was her first at the Australian Open and a first with Nestor.

"She's already dumped me for the next grand slam to go back to her regular partner so this was my one chance and I'm glad I took it," joked Nestor, who won the title here in 2007 with Elena Likhovtseva.

While Hanley had been hoping to give the locals something to cheer, Chan would have been Taiwan's first grand slam champion.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)

(For the sports blog Left Field go to: blogs.reuters.com/sport))

DOLGOPOLOV’S COACH – JACK READER

Jack Reader spent the early years of his much-travelled life in Port Lincoln where it has erected a statue of Makybe Diva. Somehow appropriate now that, at this Australian Open, Reader has taken the role of the bush trainer with a once-in a-lifetime good thing.

That Reader's surprising stayer, Ukrainian Alex Dolgopolov, yesterday conquered the fourth seed Robin Soderling over five sets, is the consequence of an unlikely but increasingly successful coach-player alliance between two men who have spent the majority of their lives on the tennis tour.

Dolgopolov was a tennis brat who travelled from tournament to tournament with his father Oleksandr, the coach of an earlier Ukrainian star Andrei Medvedev. Little Alex is still remembered by some of Medvedev's contemporaries, such as yesterday's on-court interviewer Jim Courier, as the kid who would beg for a hit and seldom miss the baseline when he was handed a racquet.

Australian coach Jack Reader with Ukranian player Alexandr Dolgopolov. Photo: Wayne Taylor

Apart from a stint in the pub game in New Zealand and a job modelling in an ANZ bank commercial, most of Reader's professional life has been spent at the other end of the tennis spectrum in the game's bush leagues. The coach's well-worn, sun-stained face and habit of starting stories that he realises he probably should not end - at least not for publication - hint at a life lived large in years spent at college in the US, on modest satellite circuits and coaching in Italy and Germany. The nickname Jack The Stripper, recalled yesterday by a contemporary, might be another hint.

''I was a high-class bum, I suppose,'' says Reader. ''Tennis got me travelling. In Port Lincoln it would get me a trip to Adelaide or up the coast to Whyalla. After that it got me around the world. I can speak a few languages, had a good time.''

Reader did not win his first computer point until he was 28, earning a career-high singles ranking of 700 and a doubles rating of 300. But, even then, he knew his future was outside the lines. ''I would coach for three months just to get the money together to play one satellite tournament,'' he says.

 Twelve years ago, Reader found himself back in Adelaide where he raised a son as a single father, coached at the Warradale Park Tennis Club and worked with some top juniors. It was on a trip to Italy with a promising Adelaide player Yuri Bezeruk five years ago that Reader first saw Dolgopolov.

The then 17 year-old beat Bezeruk comprehensively and Reader immediately called an Italian agent he knew. ''I said this kid has got the biggest talent in the world,'' says Reader.

Then, two years ago, Reader got a phone call. Dolgopolov had struggled with other coaches since he and his father/coach had, in the Ukrainian's words, ''gotten a bit sick of each other'' and his agent wanted Reader to look after him. ''I thought 'You beauty','' says Reader. ''He lost second round of qualies and I gave him a big serve because I thought he was going back [to Europe]. That's how it started.''

In 2009, Reader coached Dolgopolov from afar using skype and emails, but since December he has travelled with him, overseeing the rising star as his ranking improved from 350 to - after the Australian Open - at least No .34. ''The biggest thing was getting him to get enjoy his tennis again,'' says Reader. ''He grew up on the circuit and I think he expected to be there.''

Yesterday, Dolgopolov looked far more relaxed than the brooding Soderling whose feared forehand buckled in the face of the Ukrainian's nagging game.

When you mention the ''bush trainer'' analogy, Reader smiles. ''People can say what they like … The best coaches are not always the best players. You've got a player with all the strokes and, somehow, you've got to make them come together.''

THEAGE.COM.AU

ANNACONE

 

For Federer, a Coach Who Links Eras of Tennis Greatness

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

MELBOURNE — Pete Sampras was on the phone or the screen or whatever one is on these days, and Paul Annacone was keeping his friend and former employer informed, his thumbs typing an Australian Open update.

“Just texting Pete; he always likes to see what’s going on, what the conditions are like, who’s playing, that kind of stuff,” Annacone said on Sunday as he walked into the players’ lounge. “I think he just watched Roger. He told me to tell Roger, ‘Good win and good luck.”’

Annacone, a 47-year-old American, is now the most tangible link between two remarkable tennis eras and the two champions who, along with Rod Laver, make every short list of all-time great men’s players.

Annacone coached Sampras from 1995, with one short break, until Sampras officially retired in 2003, and Annacone is now one of Roger Federer’s two coaches along with Severin Luethi, joining up last July on a trial basis before becoming part of the staff with the brief to fit in seamlessly while providing fresh thinking.

A former touring professional who peaked at No. 12 in the world, Annacone is well aware of his good fortune.

“I do feel really lucky,” he said. “Not only have I been with these two guys; I’ve also been with Tim Henman, a perennial top 10 player and one of the best guys ever as a person to walk on a tennis court. So I’ve been with three great players and more importantly three great people, so sometimes I wake up and go ‘Wow’, and I do feel kind of blessed to have had this opportunity.

“But I think part of my good fortune, I hope, is because of my work ethic and personality and the perspective that I view the game with and the history I have soaked up as a bit of a sponge in the last 25 years.”

José Higueras, now a top coach with the United States Tennis Association, also worked briefly with Sampras and then, for a short time, with Federer. But Annacone, who also has been in charge of player development for the U.S.T.A. and the British Lawn Tennis Association, is now in position to make a longer-term impact on both the player of the 1990s and the player of the 2000s.

Annacone said Sampras was enthusiastic about his decision to work with Federer. “His response was, ‘Jeez, that’s great. How many people have gotten to coach him and me? Not a lot.’ And he likes Roger.”

Annacone and Luethi generally take turns traveling, staying in touch by text or telephone so as not to send Federer mixed signals. “That’s how it generally works, but usually whoever is there kind of takes the driver’s seat,” Annacone said.

Luethi, a Swiss who has been Federer’s friend since childhood, was on duty in Doha, Qatar, for Federer’s first official event of the year. But Annacone is on duty here and also plans to be with Federer at the tour events in Indian Wells, California, and Miami. Annacone, who has two grown children, homes in East Hampton, New York, and Topanga, California, near Malibu, said splitting the travel and coaching duties with Luethi suits him well. “To me it’s been really nice, kind of fit like a glove,” he said.

Annacone was a net-rushing player before a herniated disc in his back cut short his career, and both Sampras and Henman were at their most effective moving forward, which is one reason Federer has brought Annacone on board. The goal, clearly, has been not an overhaul but a tweak.

“It’s important to question yourself, and that’s what I’ve always been doing since I got to world No. 1 in 2004,” Federer said Sunday after defeating Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the fourth round.

Annacone said his and Federer’s emphasis was on “just more offensive stuff, using his athleticism.”

“Everyone that watches can see,” he said. “There’s no magic pill, no secret whispering with voodoo dolls going on. It’s about him being one of the few guys who can play a number of different ways at the highest level, so for him it’s about managing that.”

Federer lost in the semifinals of the U.S. Open last year to Novak Djokovic in Annacone’s first major tournament on board. But his results have been, in general, on the upswing, and he has continued to push forward with greater frequency here, winning 36 of 50 points at the net against Robredo. But it has hardly been a routine first week, with Federer requiring five sets to defeat Gilles Simon of France in the second round.

The second week looks particularly daunting this year, with all three men left in Federer’s half of the draw — Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Federer’s quarterfinal opponent Stanislas Wawrinka — in impressive form. Wawrinka, who won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with Federer for Switzerland in 2008, ripped past Andy Roddick, the last American left in singles, in straight sets on Sunday.

“I think it’s hard because you know when the bar is set so high people tend to get sensationalistic about what’s going on, and I think it’s my job to kind of help keep that perspective,” Annacone said. “Roger’s a great player, and he’s been playing well since August and if he wins in Australia, great, and if he doesn’t, that’s fine. There’s nothing broken yet. He’s feeling good. His game is progressing. We’re working on themes, and we kind of just have to keep looking at it that way, but it’s tough because you set a pretty high bar.”

Coaching Federer is a privilege that indeed has a potential dark side. For a man who has won a record 16 Grand Slam singles titles — 2 more than Sampras — the only good-news results are more Grand Slam singles titles. But Annacone, unlike just about anyone else, has been here before. He took over as Sampras’s coach on an interim basis in March 1995, when Annacone’s friend Tim Gullikson, then Sampras’s coach, had become increasingly ill with the brain tumor that would ultimately kill him.

Sampras, at that stage, was already No. 1 but with Annacone’s support, he would win eight more Grand Slam titles, culminating with the 2002 U.S. Open when Sampras, at the age of 31, had not won a major in more than two years and was widely considered in decline.

For Annacone, the big difference between the two is that the multilingual Federer, a 29-year-old Swiss who is now married with twin girls, is much more eager to keep traveling the circuit and sample its cultures than Sampras was at the same age. The commonalities include their ability to make the difficult seem routine.

“They can play at an unbelievably high level efficiently, and even Rafa can’t do that and he’s one of the greatest ever,” Annacone said of Rafael Nadal. “That’s no slight against Rafa. He plays great, but believe me, it takes a lot more out of Rafa to play great than it does out of Roger or Pete.”

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