Annacone guides Federer back to form

Six months ago, Roger Federer decided that his best might not be good enough anymore to win under every circumstance, so he took on a new coach, American Paul Annacone, and the results have been more than impressive.

On Tuesday at the Australian Open, the 16-time Grand Slam champion destroyed fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, doing everything he wanted to on the court. He located his serves, he overmatched Wawrinka from the forehand side, punched clean volleys, caressed drop shots and sneered at his friend's formidable backhand down the line.

Since he joined the former tutor of 14-time Slam champ Pete Sampras in late July, not only have Federer's results improved, but his rusty tool set was sprayed with an entire bottle of WD-40. Yes, Federer always has owned just about every shot in the book, but he wasn't always confident using them. Without a doubt, he needed to hear a new voice in his ear. Sure, he could have retired last summer and walked away from the sport being called by most analysts as the greatest player ever, but if he wanted to stay in the thick of things and battle the younger set, he had to tinker, however slightly.

Just look at Federer's 2010 results after he played a near-perfect tournament in winning the 2010 Australian Open: He fell to Marcos Baghdatis in the second round of Indian Wells; he went down to Tomas Berdych in the fourth round of Miami; he took a first-round loss to Ernests Gulbis in Rome; he lost in the semis of Estoril to Albert Montanes; he was taken apart by Rafael Nadal in the final of Madrid; he was upset by Robin Soderling in the Roland Garros quarters; he was taken out in the Halle final by Lleyton Hewitt; and he suffered a stunning loss to Berdych in the Wimbledon quarters.

But since Annacone joined Federer's large team, his pupil has reached the final of Canada where he beat Novak Djokovic and Berdych before falling to Andy Murray; he won the title in Cincinnati; he reached the semis of the U.S. Open where held two match points against Djokovic but went down; he bested Djokovic and Soderling to reach the final of Shanghai (where he again fell to Murray); he won Stockholm, Basel, and reached the semis of Paris Indoors; and then at the end of the year, he won the ATP World Finals with victories over Murray and Nadal. He opened 2011 by winning Doha, and now has won five straight matches in Australia.

"Maybe I was a catalyst to it and I think I played a small role, but Roger is a great player and it was about him getting out there and doing what he needed to do," Annacone said in Melbourne. "He has done so and the results have showed. If he wins here, great; if he doesn't, he doesn't. But there have been no bases we haven't touched. Losing in the quarters of French and Wimbledon is looked at as a disaster for him. Pete used to tell me 'if I win one Slam a year, that's pretty good.' Unfortunately that's not good enough for the bar that Roger has set, but I think he had a very good year."

Federer's results under Annacone have been far from perfect, but there's been clear progress. As much as Federer likes to say he runs his own unwavering ship (and he does in a lot of ways) a new voice was needed, and it appears he made an excellent hire.

"I think I was really able to work really well with Severin [Luthi, his other coach] and Paul in Switzerland after Wimbledon, which was I think really important for me," he said. "I felt good. Didn't have any back pain. All those things were a thing of the past. Finally I had a good buildup again. I think that one really carried me through in a big way for quite a few weeks and months. And then the confidence came back. Then it's obviously no surprise that I do play well. But I'm happy that since Paul has been in the team, my success level's gone up again."

There's a theory that the reason Federer was able to make his push in the fall was because he became more aggressive, and while there's some truth in that, it's also because he became more secure in his game plans about specific players. Without a doubt, Federer is taking his backhand more on the rise now, isn't slicing as much and is able to use it more as weapon down the line, which aids him a great deal. Even though it's hard to track, he's also attacking the net more, not in every match, but in matches where it's more to his advantage to close rather than playing exhausting rallies from the baseline.

"[With his backhand] he's being a little more offensive, he's using a little more variation, not just slicing, not just hitting," Annacone said. "He's coming into net a little more. When he started his career, he came in a lot, so it's not like he doesn't know how to do it. Because [of the improved equipment] guys can hit balls as hard as they want and they don't go out. It makes it easier to return and pass, and therefore it's more complicated to come to the net. You have to figure out how and when to come in. I don't have to teach it to Roger, I just have to help him understand it and given the right environment, he'll get better and better at it."

Federer has plenty of thoughts on his different levels of on-court aggression. He reminds the world that he was never an aggressor, but concedes there were some times that he played too passively. He admits that with success, he got a little too comfortable in his game. So he's trying to make some minor changes, but that does not include overly headstrong play like charging the net behind a bad approach shot, or trying to lace a winner from an impossible position on the dead run.

In the semifinals, Federer will play Djokovic, who destroyed Berdych 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-1. It was Djokovic who took him out in the 2008 Aussie Open semis en route to the title and who also stunned Federer in the 2010 U.S. Open semifinals when he fought off two match points in a delicious five-setter.

But Federer owns a 13-6 record against the Serbian coming into the match and won their three meetings last fall. He's also beaten Djokovic in four other Grand Slams. Djokovic knows he's going to have to do exactly what he did in New York to Federer: Go right at him, but combine patience with precision. He has to tell the great Swiss that he is capable of stopping him.

“He's a very aggressive player, maybe the most aggressive there is on the tour,” Djokovic said. “You have to be patient, put some varieties and get him out of (his) comfort zone. I've played so many times against him. He knows my game really well, as I know his. You have to try to get him on the run as much as you can and try to let him know you're there to win.”

As Federer says, he's worked on building up the right plays and executing, which has been the key to his recent success.

Annacone realizes he has a special player on his hands, a 29-year-old who is capable of playing every which way but too loose.

"The best thing about him is he's the only guy who can play multiple styles at the highest levels," Annacone said. "The hardest challenge is managing it, and if I can help him manage it, then that's great. He's a student of the game and he loves the game, loves to compete and it's a reflection of why he's playing well. He has the enthusiasm of a 22-year-old. He has skills at the highest level."