Coaching challenges for Aussie tennis aces

Australian tennis stars Bernard Tomic, Samantha Stosur and Nick Kyrgios are all dealing with coaching compromises less than a week out from Wimbledon.

Tomic is once again relying on his father John after Tony Roche was unable to travel to London, while Stosur is playing second fiddle to Ajla Tomljanovic as David Taylor attempts a rare coaching double act.

Rising star Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday announced he’d split with coach Todd Larkham and would take advice from others in his team and Tennis Australia before sorting out a replacement after Wimbledon.

Ejected early from Eastbourne on Tuesday in her only grasscourt outing before Wimbledon, Stosur remains happy enough sharing Taylor after reuniting with her former long-time mentor in May following a stint with Nick Kyrgios’ ex-coach Simon Rea.

Taylor guided Stosur to US Open glory in 2011, but the father of two young daughters admitted it wasn’t a straightforward decision when he was sounded out about taking on the dual role.

“I’m trying to lessen the commitments as I’m getting older and have more responsibilities,” Taylor told AAP.

“But they’ve been good working around that. They’ve come to my home (in Liechtenstein) and things like that.

“I spoke to Tennis Australia and they were pretty keen for me to do it.

“It’s double the work but Sam and Ajla get on really well, which helps, and they’re both very nice girls and at very different stages of their careers, which probably makes it a little bit easier in some respects.

“It’s probably win-win for both of them.”

Tomljanovic, the Croatia-born 21-year-old world No.80, is benefitting from Stosur’s vast experience, while Taylor believes there’s advantages for the veteran Queenslander too.

“Ajla’s definitely got a lot she can learn from someone who’s been at the top of the game for so long and who is really super professional,” Taylor said.

“Ajla’s never been around that, so she can probably gain more than someone like Sam.”

There are drawbacks for Stosur, though.

“Obviously I was committed to Ajla so she sort of gets the run of the schedule and Sam fits in where she can, and that’s how it’s got to be because Sam came in second to the equation,” Taylor said.

“But I’m trying to cover both as best I can. I’ve done it before. I coached (Alicia) Molik and (Magdaleena) Maleeva for a year.”

Tomic had been hoping to have Roche, Australia’s former long-time Davis Cup coach and mentor to greats Roger Federer, Pat Rafter and Ivan Lendl, with him at the All England Club.

But Roche’s wife has not been well and he has opted to remain at home in Sydney.

“He was helping him out but Tony’s not going across to Wimbledon,” Roche’s good friend John Newcombe told AAP.

“That was the original plan, that he was certainly going to be helping Bernie leading into Wimbledon and at Wimbledon.

“Bernie likes Tony and they get on well, so that would have been nice.

“But Bernie should be right. He knows his way around pretty well now.”

Tomic’s father John is embroiled in another dispute with Tennis Australia (TA) over what he perceives as a lack of support and funding for his daughter Sara, the world No.630.

As a result, Bernard Tomic has declared his unavailability for next month’s Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan in Darwin.

“We have zero support from TA for Sara,” John Tomic told News Corp.

“(TA director of performance) Pat Rafter is giving (support) to players which he likes.

“He is making his own rules, just like ones before him.”

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