Spanish tennis star David Ferrer parts ways with long-time coach

Spanish world No. 3 David Ferrer has parted ways with his coach of 15 years, Javier Piles, and plans to begin working next year with Jose Francisco Altur.

The 31yearold tennis player revealed the change in coaches during a telephone press conference Sunday ahead of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition tournament in Dubai.

“Tomorrow I’ll issue a statement because my relationship with my coach, Javier Piles, has ended three or four days ago,” Ferrer said.

“I am sad because it was a very close relationship and next year I’ll start with Jose Francisco Altur, and the rest of my team,” Ferrer said.

Altur, who played lefthanded as a professional, won the tournament in San Marino in 1989 as a qualifier and reached a careerhigh ranking of No. 88 on April 9, 1990.

Altur and Pancho Alvariño, former Spanish Fed Cup captain, own and run the Centro de Tenis Altur & Alvariño at Club Deportivo Saladar, where Ferrer, Igor Andreev, Anabel Medina, Marat Safin and Alex Calatrava, among other current and former pros, have trained.

Ferrer won 20 individual titles while working with Piles and reached 22 other finals.

Ferrer is playing in the Dec. 2628 exhibition tournament in Dubai, where he will take on Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka on Dec. 26.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Scotland’s Andy Murray and France’s JoWilfried Tsonga are also in the field.