Annacone leaves LTA

Annacone: moving on

Paul Annacone has stepped down as head coach of men's tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association.

Annacone had been working out the remainder of his contract, which was due to end in November, despite being appointed Roger Federer's coach on a permanent basis.

The American insisted there was no conflict of interest even though that could have seen him in Federer's box at the US Open final, where the world number two could face Britain's Andy Murray.

However, the LTA's player director Steven Martens said in a statement: "Paul was always going to be moving on in November, but we were aware we would need to keep it under constant review, to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

"I would like once again to thank Paul for all he has done for British tennis, and he leaves with our best wishes."

Speaking to reporters at the US Open on Wednesday, Annacone admitted he is disappointed with what he has achieved, or failed to achieve, in more than three years with the LTA.

"I'm happy to carry the flak, I'm happy to say 'Geez I wish I did better, I wish I was a better coach," added the 47-year-old, a former coach to Pete Sampras and Tim Henman.

Annacone left his position as Davis Cup coach in March this year after the humiliating defeat to Lithuania which left Britain needing to beat Turkey in a play-off in July to avoid relegation to the lowest tier of the competition.

In the men's game, Murray is Britain's only player ranked inside the top 200, with Alex Bogdanovic 216th, Jamie Baker 245th, James Ward 269th and Richard Bloomfield (296) the only players inside the top 300.