Federer can win 20 majors, says coach

Roger Federer's coach sees no reason why the Swiss maestro won't wind up with 20 grand slam titles before he calls it quits.

Acclaimed mentor Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras to half of his 14 career majors, linked up with Federer last August and says the 16-times grand slam champion is showing no signs of slowing down.

"I don't see an end in sight," Annacone said on Wednesday.
Advertisement: Story continues below

"One of the most amazing things about Roger is he so loves it still. It's not a grind to go play small tournaments."

"If you look at other athletes, 29 years old - he's not ready for a walker yet.

"He's not in a place where his skills are deteriorating yet. That's not an issue."

Federer's sweet 16 is already the grand slam benchmark in tennis, but Annacone believes his charge could well surpass the magical number of 18 golf majors that Jack Nicklaus amassed.

"Is 20 a realistic number? Why not," he said.

"I haven't thought all that much about it and I don't think Roger spends a lot of his waking hours dwelling on it.

"I think when you're as gifted as an athlete as he is, you can play at such a high level without expending an incredible amount of energy.

"I mean, he works hard at it but if you watch him play matches, it's pretty amazing to watch how he glides through things.

"When you combine all those things, he can win a lot. It's hard for me to put a number on it.

"He can win every tournament he plays. He's probably not going to, but if you look at how good he is, he can win every time he plays.

"There's not a lot of guys you could say that about. So if he can stay healthy and happy and eager and continue on the process that he's on, I don't know what the end number would be.

"But is 20 realistic? Sure, why not."

While Annacone spent from 1995-2001 and part of 2002 coaching Sampras and has only been working with Federer for five months, the American can already see similarities between arguably the two greatest players of the open era.

He said the pair's ability to "deal with adversity in a pretty mild mannered, no big deal type of way" couldn't be coached in a player.

"Whether it's physical or mental, they'll drain the sensationalism out of situations and just execute what they're trying to play.

"They accept what they can accept and control what they can control and the things that they can't, they just keep on about their business and they just play.

"I think in today's athletic world you don't see a lot of people that do that very much.

"They tend to lose focus on what they're doing and can get caught up on things on the side.

"In particular, Pete and Roger are both very good at keeping things very simple and keeping it very clear in their own mind of what they need to do."

Not surprisingly, Annacone was reluctant to say who he thought was the superior player of the two living legends.

"The tennis game changed so much within the 24 months after Pete stopped - in terms of speed of the court, style of play, conditions of balls, racquets, equipment strings," he said.

"So in actuality for me, it's like comparing apples and oranges. It's a totally different game now, it's amazing.

"The sad part is, I would have loved to have seen these guys play each other in their prime for like five or six years in a row.

"Great players - and I just go back with Pete and Andre (Agassi), who I saw play each other so much and they pushed each other to such incredible heights - and I would love to have seen Roger and Pete do that with each other."

Source http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/federer-can-win-20-majors-says-coach-20110112-19nu9.html