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Roger Federer has
agreed to hire Paul Annacone as his new coach after the pair hit it off
during a one-month trial. Federer said Annacone would join forces with
Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi in coaching him.

“We’ve moved it
from a test trial to integrating him into the team now, so that’s going
ahead,” Federer said at Flushing Meadows.

American Annacone,
best known as the former coach of Pete Sampras and Tim Henman, joined
Federer’s camp earlier this month and the pair enjoyed instant success
when the Swiss won the Cincinnati Masters.

Federer said
Annacone had agreed to work with him on a part-time basis during the US
Open, starting on Monday, and would be part of his regular team once he
finished his current job with the British Lawn Tennis Association in
November.

“Obviously he has
had stuff to do for the LTA here and he will have things to do
obviously after the US Open, which I’m cool about.” Federer has
experimented with several different coaches over the years whenever he
felt his game needed improvement.

Although he won the
French Open for the first time last year to complete his own career
Grand Slam, then broke Sampras’s record of Grand-Slam titles, Federer
has had a lean time this year by his own standards.

He won the
Australian Open in January but was knocked out in the quarter-finals at
the French Open and Wimbledon and slipped to third place in the world
rankings.

He moved back to
second place after winning in Cincinnati last week and the 29-year-old
believes the inclusion of Annacone could be the key to getting back on
top.

“It’s just nice to hear a fresh, different voice for a change,” Federer said.

“I just think the dynamics work really well with Severin, and Paul
and me coming into the conversation just makes it really interesting. I
can go with a very clear mindset into the matches.” Federer has won the
US Open five times, from 2004 to 2008, the same number as Sampras and
Jimmy Connors. He lost last year’s final to towering Argentine Juan
Martin Del Potro.