Roger Federer's ex-coach honored by Venus & Serena Williams-owned Miami Dolphins on 40th Anniversary of his Miami Open win

The Tennis Channel has celebrated the 40th anniversary of ex-Roger Federer coach Paul Annacone's Miami Open win. Annacone won the doubles title at the inaugural Miami Open in 1985, alongside playing partner Christo Van Rensburg. 61-year-old Annacone is now a tennis analyst for the Tennis Channel, as well as a renowned coach.

The Miami Open organizers, led by James Blake, had arranged for Martina Navratilova and Tim Mayotte, who won the singles at that first event, to receive 40th anniversary jerseys from the Miami Dolphins in recognition of their achievement. The Dolphins are owned by tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams.

Not to be outdone, the Tennis Channel approached Blake and his team, and had them make up a jersey specifically for Annacone, and presented it to him live on air. A surprised and delighted Annacome accepted the gift and thanked Blake. Later, the Tennis Channel posted the footage on their X account:

Holding the jersey up for the cameras, Annacone said:

"Is this a JB (James Blake) special? How about that...you guys are awesome...thank you, James Blake, this is great. James Blake, you still have to give me two shots a side, but...look at the jersey, they even spelled my name right! And they got my age on here too, that's awesome! Very much appreciate it"

The Miami Open has gone through some name changes since that first event in 1985. Then it was called the Lipton International Players Championships; in 2000, it became the Ericsson Open, and in 2002, the NASDAQ-100 Open. From 2007 to 2012, it reverted to the Sony Ericsson Open, before becoming the Sony Open Tennis in 2013. Finally, it became the Miami Open in 2015.

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Paul Annacone also won the Australian Open doubles title in 1985, and coached Roger Federer and Pete Sampras

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Paul Annacone played professionally for 14 years in the 1980s and 1990s and was known as a doubles specialist. He won 14 doubles titles on the tour, with Van Rensburg as his long-time partner. However, he did reach the 1990 US Open final with a different partner, David Wheaton.

Annacone is perhaps best known for his long association with Pete Sampras, the 14-time Grand Slam winner. Annacone coached Sampras for seven years in total, and for 10 of his Major wins. He also coached Roger Federer for three years, between 2010 and 2012. Interviewed by express.co.uk in 2017, he talked about Federer and Sampras's qualities:

"Those guys had an amazing understanding of their own skill set. An understanding of what they do incredibly well. Sure, their talents are off the charts, so that’s one thing. But the second thing was they understood the strength of what they do on the tennis court."

A coach in demand, Annacone also worked with Tim Henman and Sloane Stephens. He's still a coach at ProTennisCoach.com, but is best known for his punditry work on the Tennis Channel.