On September 8th I posted an article suggesting that Roger Rasheed ( ATP Tour Coach) dump Gael Monfils like a bad habit.

Rasheed had taken Leyton Hewitt to the top echelon of the sport not to long ago, and after parting ways with Hewitt he took a position with the Frenchman--Monfils.

As a coach I'm always interested in the changes new coaches suggest to their players.

Aside from getting his charge in  Spartan warrior condition, I really didn't see much in the way of either technical or tactical adjustment in the game of the Frenchman.

The amateurish effort he put in against Federer at the US OPEN would have sent most coaches in search of a more committed and earnest client.

It looks instead like taskmaster Rasheed sat Monfils down and made him watch the tape of that match until the foolishness of his play that day sunk in and   ,perhaps through embarrassment,   motivated him to grow up and get professional about the game.

His play this week in the Paris Masters Event was a world class effort. The defensive cat and mouse game that branded Gael as an underachiever was shelved for a forward pressing geometrically based logical game plan.

Perhaps playing at his home court(Paris) or maybe the fast(slick actually) indoor surface had something to do with his  improved results, but from this old coaches perspective it looks like the coach player relationship is beginning to gel!

                                                                                 JUST MY OPINION, HOWIE BURNETT

NET NOTES (common sense ideas to lift your game) is available on AMAZON.COM

 I watched most of the matches last week from  ATP season finale  in London and it looked to me like Federer has tweaked his Backhand technique just a  little bit to enable him to rip the face of the racket up the back  of the high balls that he gets as a steady diet from  most opponents.

The court surface played a role for sure in Rogers dismantling of Rafa in the final, but he was just ripping the ball off of the backhand side all week against everybody!

The kind of racket head speed he was producing was reminiscent of Justine Henin's technique that is executed with a much more closed face requiring an explosive upward face movement .

The grip didn't look different but the ball flight he was creating was something new, and could be the result of a couple of degrees of racket angle difference allowing him to cover the shoulder high ball more readily.

I've been critical  of Roger's stubbornness and maybe new coach Annacone's  fresh eyes and  his clear minded look at Federers game have had a beneficial effect on his willingness to modify a few  minor details.

Whether it was the court surface(creating a lower  ball bounce) or a technical adjustment from the Swiss wizard it looks like 2011 will be an interesting year in mens tennis!   

                                                                              Just my opinion, Howie Burnett

My book---- Net Notes ---- is available at AMAZON.COM