London - Brad Gilbert's well-paid relationship with British tennis has ended with the Californian coach heading home for good when his contract ends in three months. The ESPN commentator and former mentor to Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick enjoyed a million-dollar-plus annual relationship while coaching Andy Murray until the headstrong Scot shut it down last year, preferring to work with a home-grown "consortium" of advisors.
Gilbert then grudgingly accepted a short-term pact worth more than 700,000-dollars to work with the lower-ranked Brits, of which Alex Bogdanovic is the pick of the litter on No. 242.
But for the seventh straight year "Boggo" exited Wimbledon on a wild card on Monday without ever winning a match.
British press reports indicated that the volatile 46-year-old Gilbert is fed up with working with British no-hopers.
"I think Brad will move on - he wants to work with top players," Lawn Tennis Association boss Roger Draper told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. "Brad has been great for British tennis but once he split from Andy really, it was time for Brad to go."
Gilbert arrived with fanfare in July 2006 in a bid for revamp the sagging British game. Among his colleagues was former Pete Sampras coach Paul Annacone.