Tennis - Stosur in no rush to appoint new coach

The 2011 U.S. Open champion conceded that the timing of her separation from Dave Taylor was "strange" but said she was in no rush to find a permanent replacement.

Stosur is working with Australia's Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik during the U.S. Open, starting on Monday, but said she had not even thought about her long-terms plans.

"I didn't have anything in place. It just happened last week," Stosur told reporters at Flushing Meadows.

"She will help me here, and after this tournament I will kind of assess what I want to do, who maybe it can be, and go from there.

"But there is no one in particular at the moment."

Stosur and Taylor worked together for nearly six years and formed a successful partnership, with Stosur reaching the French Open final in 2010 before breaking through to win her maiden grand slam in New York the following season.

The Australian went almost two years before winning any other tournaments but ended her drought in California earlier this month, beating Victoria Azarenka in the final at Carlsbad.

But just a week later, the 29-year-old announced she and Taylor were parting ways, even though the U.S. Open was approaching.

"I think we both were kind of feeling that we'd almost come to the end. Unfortunately, it happened to be last week," Stosur explained.

I don't think either of us would have wanted it to happen right then, and obviously with winning that tournament, makes it seem a little bit strange.

"But I think we both felt that it was time, and you know, if something's time is up, then you've kind of got to call it a day."

Despite the unusual timing of the split, the 11th seed said she was confident of a strong showing at the scene of her greatest success.

"It's fantastic coming back here. I guess it's the second year coming back to the site of where I have had my best tennis moment," she said.

"So I think no matter what lead up you've had, however you feel, you can walk in here and think this is pretty cool and relive all those great memories and hopefully make them all happen again."

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Hodgson to coach U-21s in one-off

Roy Hodgson will coach the England Under-21s team as well as the seniors for next month's friendlies against Scotland. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Roy Hodgson will temporarily split his time as manager of the England senior and Under-21s teams to help out the Football Association as it searches for a full-time replacement for Stuart Pearce.

Hodgson has offered to combine his duties with the senior side, preparing for their friendly against Scotland on 14 August, with filling the void left by Pearce's departure and managing the Under-21s in another Anglo-Scottish encounter the previous night at Bramall Lane, home of Sheffield United.

The FA began advertising for Pearce's successor on Wednesday, six weeks after he was removed from its payroll, and hopes to have an appointment in place by the time the Under-21s play Moldova in a Euro 2015 qualifier at Reading on 5 September.

In the meantime Hodgson will be in charge of selecting a new-look squad after the disappointment of the European Championship in Israel in June, with the former captain Jordan Henderson, Danny Rose, Steven Caulker, Craig Dawson, Henri Lansbury and Jack Rodwell all now ineligible at that age level.

After overseeing training with both groups of players at St James's Park, Hodgson and his assistant, Ray Lewington, will leave Gary Neville in charge of the seniors and head to Sheffield before travelling to Wembley the following day for the first England-Scotland match in 14 years.

Hodgson, who will name both squads on 8 August, said: "There is an opportunity, while the recruitment process goes on, for me to work with this [Under-21] squad and it is something I very much wanted to do. Following the tournament in the summer, a number of players are now too old for the age group so we will look at a new batch and I'm keen to work closely on the training field with them for the few days before the game.

"I watch the Under-21 fixtures and I was in Israel for the tournament but, as a coach, nothing can beat the training field and the team hotel for getting to know players properly. In a World Cup year it makes absolute sense while there is the chance to do it."

The FA will emphasise to potential candidates for the Under-21 role, among them Gareth Southgate, that the job now has broader requirements to Pearce's time in the job. Uppermost in its thoughts is the success Spain have had with a system whereby development teams, from Under-16s onwards, play to a similar ethos.

"We have amended the structure so the Under-21 coach will have responsibility for the development coaches, working into our director of elite development, Dan Ashworth," Adrian Bevington, the managing director of Club England, said. "This should ensure a consistency of style across all our teams."

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Wimbledon - Sharapova names Connors as new coach

The WTA world number two confirmed the split from Hogstedt on Thursday, having gone out of Wimbledon in round two against Michelle Larcher de Brito.

The Russian said Hogstedt was “not able to travel in the near future”, and two days later the 26-year-old made public her new coach will be the 60-year-old Connors via her official website.

"I am really excited about our new partnership and looking forward to the upcoming tournaments," she said.

"After almost three years of working together, Thomas Hogstedt and I decided to part ways.

"I am very thankful for all his work, and wish him much success in the future."

Connors won five US Open men’s singles titles, as well as Wimbledon twice and one Australian Open, and topped the ATP rankings from July 1974 to August 1977.

Connors has worked with Sharapova in the past, during her preparations for the Australian Open in 2008.

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