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U.S. tennis coaches John Roddick and Jimmy Connors

Mark LyonsJimmy Connors, right, leaves the coaching
duties to Andy Roddick's brother, John, left.

THE TR NEWSLETTER: FRIDAY, March 7, NO. 263

Connors won't follow Roddick to the ends of the earth

Jimmy, Andy part ways with no Slam wins

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Most of us who have followed Andy Roddick during the past seven years sensed that something was amiss with he and his coach, Jimmy Connors, at the start of the year when Connors seemed reticent to talk and Roddick wasn't convincing when describing why their relationship was changing.

Two weeks ago, Roddick said that Connors wouldn't be traveling as much this year, and that their relationship would mostly be confined to practice weeks and phone calls.

"Communication is tough," Roddick said. "When the match isn't on TV and you try to explain where your head is at. We did the mentor role as well as you can from a distance, but when I'm going from Australia to Austria to California to Memphis to Dubai, it becomes difficult. It was a matter of logistics as much as anything."