PARIS, May 27 (Reuters) - Alejandro Davidovich Fokina found himself without a coach at the French Open after his mentor Mariano Puerta abruptly quit via text message and flew to Miami without warning, leaving the Spanish 21st seed to fend for himself at Roland Garros.
The bizarre coaching breakup occurred after Davidovich Fokina's gruelling five-set victory over Bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the first round, following what was reportedly a heated discussion between player and coach.
"After the match against Dzumhur, we had lunch and after that I went to cool down a little bit. He said he was feeling bad, he was going to the hotel," Davidovich Fokina explained to reporters.
"In the afternoon, like two-three hours later, he texted me a message (saying) that he will not continue... He didn't say nothing to anybody to the team, he just took the flight and flew to Miami without saying a word to us.
"I heard he did this a couple of times before with other players, so it seems normal for him. I will not go behind him if he decides to leave and not continue till the end of the tournament. Not my problem, he's an adult (who) made his own choices."
The former Argentine player previously coached Christian Garin and Brandon Nakashima.
Without his coach's guidance, which Davidovich Fokina said "probably affected me subconsciously", he went on to lose his second-round match to unseeded Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante in four sets on Wednesday.
The Spanish player revealed that Puerta had even blocked his and his wife's phone numbers, despite insisting there was no tension between them and that there was no fight that had led to the coach's mysterious exit.
"The thing is we didn't fight, everything was normal. In the match, everything was normal. We were very communicative during the match against Dzumhur," he added.
"I don't know what to say because it was strange. But nothing can surprise me anymore. I have (seen) a lot of things through my career, so this is another thing.
"I thought that he was a very good person and after that I discovered he did this a couple times before with other players. I was like, 'Okay, it was my fault to hire him.'"
Reuters was unable to reach Puerta for comment.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
