RODDICK - CONNORS PART WAYS

There's no denying the influence Jimmy Connors had on Andy Roddick was considerable and tangible.

Unfortunately for Roddick, the vociferous channeling of Jimbo's on-court spirit didn't have anything to do with winning multiple Grand Slam events.

Only this lasting memory:

Roddick, to chair umpire Emmanuel Joseph: "You're an idiot."

Roddick to the fans: "Stay in school kids, or you'll end up being an umpire."

That all happened at the Australian Open in January, which will go down as the last match of the Roddick-Connors partnership at a Grand Slam tournament. Inauspiciously, the third-round loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber was Roddick's earliest exit in Melbourne since he went out in the second round in 2002.

The official end came last week when Connors resigned as coach, and the public announcement was yesterday in Dubai after beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets.

Coincidence?

Connors was just a part-time coach.

Roddick's older brother, John, seemed to do more of the heavy lifting, handling the daily nuts and bolts, and Connors the broader strokes.

The once-shaky Roddick backhand did improve.

But a moderately improved backhand wasn't enough to compensate for a lack of a Plan B, or the disturbing tendency to keep drifting back behind the baseline, negating his power.

Roddick told reporters in Dubai, describing the split as "amicable."

As it often happens, the best results came after they first started working together when Roddick reached the U.S. Open final in 2006 a few weeks after connecting with Connors, losing to Roger Federer.

Rankings don't lie, though. Pre-Connors, Roddick was mentioned most often as one of the biggest threats to Federer's dominance. But Rafael Nadal made the first move to slide in, on deck, followed by Novak Djokovic (who beat Federer to win the Australian Open in January).

Connors' legacy: a slightly better backhand and an extremely offensive mouth.

The stamp of Connors.