Wednesday Watercooler: The Firewall

Mornin' Tribe. The Davis Cup pre-draw press conference transcripts are out; I will be reviewing them after I post this Watecooler item. TennisWorld's spiritual adviser, Estoril's Miguel "Mikey" Seabra,  was reading  our  banter about  Roger Federer and his coaching situation yesterday, including the bits about Mirka serving many of the traditional roles usually reserved for the coaches of top players. We raised the issue of how much Mirka really knows about tennis, which led Mikey to dig out some old images from back in the day when Mirka was more focused on her own tennis career than that of her boyfriend, Roger. So here are two images from an Estoril Open in which Mirka played.

So let's not forget that Mirka once was a high-level player, although it's always dangerous to ignore the differences between the men's and women's game. Whether or not Mirka was a student of the game - specifically, the men's game - is the major issue here. It's a more important factor than, say, how highly she was ranked, or the style of game she pursued.

BTW, you may already know this, but the road to Roger most definitely goes through Mirka. The ATP theoretically sets up interviews and media commitments for the players, but in a case like Federer's, they do not go to Roger with a specific request or suggestion. They go to Mirka, fingers crossed that she will encourage Roger to see the sense, and perhaps self-interest, in accommodating the request.

I haven't really thought about this subject in a while, but Mirka's place in Roger's grand scheme seems to have expanded with time. Mirka is the firewall - clearly, she is Roger's first line of defense. That role is most typically delegated  (among mature top players)  to a family member, a coach, or a business manager/agent. For example, Andre Agassi's first line of defense (meaning his most influential adviser and most trusted ally) was his manager Perry Rogers. Maria Sharapova has her dad,  Yuri. For Rafael Nadal, it's been his coach and uncle, Toni. Yet event these select, most-trusted companions have wide-ranging roles and powers. If you want to get together with Andy Roddick, you may go through is agent, Ken Meyerson (SFX), but end working out specifics with Andy's personal assistant, who ultimately hooks you up with Andy's brother John. Or look at Rafa: If you want to interview him, you go to Benito Perez-Barbadillo, who then goes to Rafa and Toni (and, depending on the nature of the project,  perhaps even Nadal's agent, Carlos Costa).

Agassi was always a different case; you went through Perry for everything, in a streamlined one-stop shopping exercise. Roger is drawn to this approach too, but with a critical difference. Mirka is not a businesswoman, so a great deal of Roger's business is done via Tony Godsick of IMG. Tony and Roger seem to have a smooth, professional relationship. But at the same time, Mirka always seems to be in the decision-making loop. Perhaps she's best thought of as a girlfriend who's taken on the role of personal assistant - a job where power can become really concentrated.

It's interesting to wonder what Roger's life would be like, especially away from the tennis court, if Mirka were not such a force in his life. I don't believe that absent Mirka, The Mighty Fed would be playing Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, or hanging around sports bars, wearing his baseball cap backwards. She probably understands his temperament, prejudices and tastes better than anyone, and while he has always seemed a decent, easygoing sort, I never felt he was especially malleable, or prone to falling under the undue influence of some bossy or manipulative companion. Like Justine and Carlos or Pete Sampras and Paul Annacone, Mirka and Roger seem very much on the same page, even if that page isn't covered in diagrams and X's an O's.