Laura Robson hires Nick Saviano and Jesse Witten as new coaching team

Laura Robson: new coaching team for 2014

British No 1 Laura Robson has a new coaching team in Americans Nick Saviano and Jesse Witten.

Robson has been without a coach since splitting from Miles Maclagan last month. But she has been training at veteran Saviano's academy in Florida during the off-season.

She worked briefly with the 57-year-old as a junior and has since gone through a string of coaches, including Martijn Bok, Patrick Mouratoglou, Zeljko Krajan and Maclagan.

Saviano is unlikely to go to a lot of tournaments with Robson - those duties will instead fall to 31-year-old Witten.

Witten, who will serve as both coach and hitting partner on the road, reached a career-high ranking of 163 three years ago, while in 2009 he made the third round at the US Open.

Saviano also coaches Robson's best friend Eugenie Bouchard and is expected to accompany the Canadian teenager - potentially one of the biggest stars in the game in the next 10 years - to the big tournaments.

Crucial year

Next year will be a crucial one for Robson, who has seen the likes of Bouchard and American Madison Keys move past her to become the leading teenagers in the rankings.

Robson performed well at the grand slams in 2013, making the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time and the third round at both the Australian and US Opens.

But she finished the season ranked 45th after disappointing results in Asia and she rarely shone in routine WTA events, reaching just one quarter-final all year and losing in the first round nine times.

Robson will begin her 2014 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, which begins on December 30 this year.