Fabio Fognini has confirmed that he will start working with Argentine coach Franco Davin during the 2017 season.
The announcement comes weeks after the world No.49 separated with his former coach Jose Perlas after working together for five years. The admirable split between the two was requested by Fognini, who told Italian media that he ‘wanted to try something new’.
“His goal was about entering the top-20 and we even got higher than that, this gave me much satisfaction. The issue was making the next step, making him understand that it was worth it to make sacrifices and efforts to go beyond. I have some regrets and frustration of not having been able to provide continuity to moments in which Fabio played at his best.” Perlas told Punto de Break about his work with Fognini.
Taking Perlas’ place is Davin, a coach with extensive experience in the sport. The 46-year-old has previously coached Gaston Gaudio, Juan Martin del Potro and most recently Grigor Dimitrov. His work with Dimitrov ended in July this year with the Bulgarian saying ‘things just haven’t worked out.’ Davin is also the former captain of the Argentinian Davis Cup team.
WELCOME TO MIAMI…
BIENVENIDO A MIAMI 🇺🇸🇦🇷🇮🇹
First day done 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/2pR9DX2cmL— Fabio Fognini (@fabiofogna) 28 November 2016
It is reported that Fognini and Davin is currently training in Miami in order to adjust to the hot climate ahead of the start of the Australian swing of the tour in January.
This season Fognini has achieved a win-loss of 26-23 and won one ATP title at the Umag Open when he defeated Andrej Martin in the final. On the other hand, the Italian has experienced a poor year in the grand slam tournaments after failing to progress beyond the second round at all of them.
New role for Perlas
Fognini is likely to still see his former coach on the tour after is was confirmed that Perlas will become the new coach for Dusan Lajovic. 26-year-old Lajovic is currently ranked 93rd in the world, 36 places below his career ranking high. This season the Serbian reached three semifinals on the ATP Tour in Kitzbuhel, Los Cabos and Sao Paulo.
