Kevin Anderson and Neville Godwin have split up despite their strong 2017 season.
Anderson announced the separation after four years together via Twitter. The decision was made because they were both looking for new challenges, according to the current number 14 in the world. We had great moments, the move into the top ten and a Grand Slam finale, for which I will always be grateful. I wish Neville all the best and hope that he will be elected ATP Coach of the Year, because he deserves it,”said Anderson.
In the choice of coach, the former professional Godwin has top-class competitors in Toni Nadal/Calos Moya (Rafael Nadal), Ivan Ljubicicic (Roger Federer), Alexander Zverev sr. (Alexander and Mischa Zverev) and Martin Laurendeau (Denis Shapovalov).
Godwin and the psychologist Alexis Castorri had recently worked on the Anderson presence in the field. Anderson realized this and surprised with unusual cheers and a fist during his final run at the US Open:”He is a quiet, reserved guy. But when you step on the big stage, it’s not always the best thing to do,”Godwin said.”You should be a rock star. He’s making music, so we used this analogy – that you want to embrace the audience and work with them.”
Godwin summed up the quiet behaviour of many big players – as well as the equally quiet representatives Cilic, Isner or Karlovic – in an interesting way:”It all goes back to one thing: Small guys have small people syndromes, big guys have big people syndromes. Big guys are rarely thugs, they’re often embarrassed about their size. So they tend to crawl into themselves to make themselves smaller or less conspicuous.”