
Obviously I’m joking. Such a scenario would unfortunately never, ever happen. And that’s too bad, though. Because in my mind, based on recent results both Roger Federer and Andy Roddick would both benefit from such a trade.

Watch out Roger Federer. Novak Djokovic is coming to get you.

Part One of this story addressed what happened with the women’s game in 2007 — and what I see is a powerful lesson to be learned by recreational adults, juniors, parents, and coaches.

These are fast changing times for British tennis. Andy Murray shot into the world’s Top 20 this year with new coach Brad Gilbert. There is a new British Davis Cup Captain, John Lloyd; and they just officially hired Peter Lundgren to coach the team after working with them during the fall. At the center of it all is a new Chief Executive of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Roger Draper, who has big aspirations.

Well…I’m back from my last vacation of the year, or at least the last of the summer, and it’s catch-up time in the tennis world. Fortunately I had a cable TV handy, unfortunately I had to endure that fill-in Sean guy on ESPN.
As it was my vacation, I saw several other people vacationing also. Namely WTA stars like Justin Henin, Amelie Mauresmo, Venus Williams, etc. Okay, I didn’t see them but I get the feeling they along with a few others are enjoying their rest based on all the pulls from Montreal the past few days.

At the 2004 Pacific Life Open, Justine Henin-Hardenne was given a warning by the chair umpire after her coach, Carlos Rodriguez, was heard shouting instructions from the side of the court late in the second set of the quarterfinal match. Henin-Hardenne didn’t deny it, and instead blatantly admitted that Rodriguez was helping her. “He told me be aggressive … go to the net,” she said, “You can tell it’s coaching. I know what I have to do, but sometimes it’s hard for me when I’m on court, in the match, to do what you know you have to do.”
At the time, Henin-Hardenne held the World No. 1 ranking.

You know women’s tennis is in trouble when the WTA dips into their un-original bag of ideas to better the game, only to pull out the on-court coaching card.
In a press release Friday the WTA announced that it will “experiment” with on-court coaching at upcoming summer stops in Montreal and New Haven, meaning coaches will be allowed to come on court during matches to help their players.

