Old, chartered territory.

Much has been recently made about the 'slump' world #1 Roger Federer is experiencing. After amassing the most dominating three years in the history of the ATP, a triad that includes 10 grand slam titles and a slew of Masters' shields and a couple of YEC's to boot, four losses before Wimbledon seem out of step with the usual style of the world's best tennis player. Add to that the pressure of adding the sole title to elude him thus far, a title that would bring far more prestige with it than any other title Federer has garnered so far and you can see why the step to part ways with long-time, part-time coach Tony Roche has most fans and pundits alike confused about this particular path world #1 has chosen. Especially at this particular time, with the clay court championships a mere two weeks away, with your clay court nemesis at his very best and snatching every clay title in sight, it seems foolhardy at best to part ways with the person in which you've put trust in for the past two years to give the proper direction. But part ways with Roche he has, and he says that there's no coach on the horizon..."I'm not taking a coach because I know what it takes to win. I don't want anyone interfering," the Swiss star said. "Maybe down the road I'll look for someone to help me out for practice."

Fans as well as beleagurers of world #1 will do well to remember that the first stellar year of the Swiss tennis player was had without a coach, when he nabbed three of the four slam titles in 2004 with only the French Open trophy absent from his roster. It would be the start of the three most dominating years in the history of men's tennis; Federer would go on to amass seven more grand slam titles and have an unbroken stint at the #1 position, a stint still intact. But Federer also nabbed the leadership of revered Aussie coach Tony Roche after his first amazing season, and up until now, had hit only one roadblock to total and complete domination of the men's tour; Raphael Nadal. And after two years of making little if any headway on the Spaniard who has held the #2 position for as long as Federer has been #1 and who has amassed a record on clay as equally dispiriting (77 consecutive wins and counting), Federer has decided that perhaps he can do bad all by himself..."It's something that's been inside myself for a few months," Federer 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 were together only 15 weeks a year and I just thought the communication wasn't going very far any more."

If this is a precurser of things to come, then we have to expect Federer, who really does know what it takes to win and how to win it, will eventually right the turned back wheels and give himself the best opportunity to win. Even so, world #1 failed to win the French title when he was coachless, so it doesn't bode well that he will be able to snag the elusive title this year. Perhaps it will take another year of "gathering information," the phrase he has stated whenever accepting a loss to Nadal on clay. Perhaps this year will be the end all moment for Federer, a moment when he will finally face the clay court demons that have haunted him since his rise to the top, and conquer them. He seems to see no problem with this scenario..."In Monaco, I reached the finals. I'm very happy the way I played there from the quarters on," Federer said. "Last week (back in March/April) 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." Maybe nothing really happened for him, but for the rest of the tour, who have been complacent in the light of Federer's greatness, it has been nothing short of revolutionary. Finally a ray of light has appeared through the Federer storm that has battered the ATP tour for years now. Players now have a modicum of hope when playing Federer outside of a grass court. Unfortunately, his main and most important nemesis has to look at this recent slide as more fodder for him; he has to like his chances on extending his win streak over the world's top ranked tennis star even as they both gear up for the Hamburg final, a clay tourney that he has owned in the past. Stay tuned...