After losing in four consecutive tournaments, Roger Federer saiod Monday that he has left coach Tony Roche and will compete the French Open and Wimbledon without a replacement.
"I'm definitely not going to take a coach for the French Open and Wimbledon because I know what it takes and I don't want anybody interfering with my preparation and with my tournaments," Federer said at the Hamburg Masters where he will attempt to win his first title since February. "Maybe down the road I'm going to look again for someone who's going to be able to help me out for practicing."
Federer insists that his shocking straight-set loss to Italian wild card Filippo Volandri in the third round of the Rome Masters last week is not the reason for his split from Roche.
"It's something that's been inside myself for a few months," he said. "It was a decision that wasn't easy, of course, because we're good friends and get along very well and he's helped me a lot over the last couple of years. (But) in the end he was a part-time coach. We only were together for 15 weeks and distances were also not so easy ... I just thought the communication kind of changed and it was not going much further."
Federer said his recent string of losses don't have him worried: "In Monaco, I reached the finals. I'm very happy the way I played there from the quarters on. Last week was obviously disappointing, and I wasn't happy with my performance there. But it's basically one tournament, because at Indian Wells I had a bit of a blister and then in Miami I think I played well but ended up losing. So nothing really happened in my point of view."

That's a good attitude. But it seems like something DID happen. His progess in Hamburg will be closely watched by the rest of the field....