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16th April, 2000 WE STILL NEED ROCHEY AT THE HELM The players met Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard in Adelaide to discuss the future of the Davis Cup captaincy and coaching and, one way or another, I'd like Tony Roche to stay involved. John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur would make a great team as Davis Cup captain and coach, but I believe Tony is the best coach in the world and I'd like to see him continue in the job. We'd be silly not to use him if he is available. I know Rochey is keen to stay involved with Australian tennis and it would be a tragedy if he was picked up by an overseas player, so I'm going to try and work things out so that we an continue working together next year. He has done so much for my career. He's been the reason I got to No. 1 and won the US Open twice. He's always there and, with all of that, he's just a fantastic bloke to deal with. If there are complications with Fitzy or Wally travelling as much as they need next season, Rochey is the ideal man to fill in. He's had some problems in his right hip with arthritis, but he's determiend to push on and I'll be glad to work with him whenever he's available. All of the boys cannot speak highly enough of him and it would be a shame if he wasn't involved with us. I'm sure if Tennis Australia can't work something out with him, I'll be doing everything I can to make sure he's around the place. The players have an open mind about the Davis Cup captaincy. The four candidates - Fitzy, Wally, Peter McNamara and Geoff Masters - all have plenty to offer. Privately, some of the boys feel really strongly about who they want and they'll make that known to Tennis Australia. If we do have a preference it's for the captain-coach system to continue after John Newcombe and Rochey finish up as a team at the end of this year. It's a system which has worked well for us over the past six or seven years, with Rochey taking care of us with the on-court work and preparing us for the big tournaments and the Davis Cup ties. Newk has always been a great motivator and he's the perfect guy to have on the sidelines during a big match because he's been there so many times himself and he knows what's going on. He also takes care of a lot of things behind the scenes. We'd like that sytem to continue, not only because we've won the Davis Cup, but most of all because it works. |