Tsonga splits with coach Rasheed

French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has split with Australian coach Roger Rasheed after just a year together. Tsonga, who skipped the US Open currently under way in New York to fully recover from a knee injury, praised Rasheed's contributions to his play, saying that he had learned much from him since the start of the year. "But the language barrier and the difficulties involved in our respective geographic situations hinders our association and at 28 time is running out for me to achieve my objectives," Tsonga said in a press release. "I am currently looking at several options and I hope things will be clearer in the next few weeks." Tsonga was coached by French Tennis Federation coach Eric Winogradsky from 2004 until 2011 and then spent a year on his own before turning to Rasheed, who had previously been with Australian Lleyton Hewitt and another Frenchman, Gael Monfils. Currently ranked eighth in the world, Tsonga reached the final of the Australian Open in 2008 where he lost to Novak Djokovic, but he has yet to win a Grand Slam title. Source: AFP