In the end a common bond of American brashness and a reluctance to accept second best to anybody wasn?t enough to save the 21 month coaching allegiance between Andy Roddick and so many of his compatriots? tennis idol Jimmy Connors.

Officially it was 55 year-old Connors, winner of eight Grand Slam titles, who decided the things had reached the end of the road with the 25 year-old world no.6. But both men had come to realise the relationship was no longer truly viable because of Connor?s reluctance to travel.

Much of his advice was offered over the telephone with Roddick?s elder brother John taking over the role of coach. After winning through to the semi-finals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships with an impressive 7-6, 6-2 win over world no.2 Rafael Nadal, Roddick revealed the split and said: ?I?m just happy I was able to spend a little bit of time with such a legend.

?But communication got tough when Jimmy was not there. Maybe the match wasn?t on television. You came off the court and struggled to explain where your head was at. I think we did the mentor bit as well as we could but when I am going from Australia to Austria to California to Memphis to Dubai like I have done so far this year it becomes difficult.

?It was as much a matter of logistics as anything and it was tough to ask him to come on the road two or three or four weeks at a time. He?s got a great family and he likes walking his dogs every morning. Plus I was keeping him away from the golf course a little bit too much. I am sad about it, as much from a personal stand point as anything. I really enjoyed my time with him.?

Connors had purposely distanced himself from the sport after retiring competitively in 1996 with his 44th birthday fast approaching. But he embraced the challenge of trying to push level back to the elite level occupied by Roger Federer and Nadal. ?Maybe we didn?t get the results he wanted and it was tough for him to do it part-time but he was retired before we got together,? said Roddick.

?It?s completely amicable and we are still friends. I just have so much respect for him as a person and I?m thankful for what he was able to give to me as well as taking some time out of his retirement to spend it with me. I?m sure the phone number is still there for me if I need to bounce something off him. We?ve not talked about it but I don?t see him hanging up the receiver if I want to ask him a question. It ended up just about as well as something like this can be.?

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