A FEMALE COACH FOR ANDY MURRAY BY RICHARD EVANS

Written by: Staff on 30th June 2014

A FEMALE COACH FOR ANDY MURRAY BY RICHARD EVANS

epa04246515 Britain's Andy Murray in action during a training session for the Aegon Championships at the Queen's Club in London, Britain 09 June 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

Photo by Laura Robson and Heather Watson. #Rally4Bally bracelet.

www.justgiving.com/RallyFor Bally

Editor’s note : We had to put this back in the rotation. The Legendary tennis journalist Richard Evans wrote this for us. It’s a great piece.

Within minutes of the shock announcement that Andy Murray had chosen Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, Andrei Chesnokov was having microphones stuck under his nose in the Players Lounge at Roland Garros.

And the connection? Chesnokov, the former French Open semi-finalist who has been a long time Paris resident, was coached throughout his career by a woman – the highly regarded Russian coach Tatiana Naumko. “My grandmother told me to keep working with Tatiana when I first turned pro and you should always listen to your grandmother,” said Chesnokov with a grin. “For me, it worked out well.”

The idea of a woman coaching a man is not unprecedented in tennis but it is certainly very rare and Murray is easily the highest ranked man ever to turn to a female for help. “Everyone I know speaks very highly of Amelie as a coach and a person,” Murray said of the French woman who won Wimbledon in 2006 but was always too fraught with nerves and pressure to play her best tennis at Roland Garros. “I have a very strong coaching team and I am sure Amelie will be able to add to it with her experience. Growing up I always worked with my mother, even later for a bit at 16 or 17, so for me, it doesn’t seem a very different thing.”

Andy Murray in action during a training session for the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club in London, Britain 09 June 2014.

Mauresmo, for her part, tried hard to be as professional and business-like as possible when speaking to a packed media conference in Paris soon after news had broken about the new partnership at the Queen’s Club in London where Murray was due to compete in the Aegon Championships. “I think Andy’s choice of me may have been a little about emotion and sensitive things,” she said. “But I’m not interested in that part of the story. All I’m interested in is helping him achieve his goals.”

That makes it tough for the likeable Amelie because she is going to be judged on one thing – Murray’s ability to retain his Wimbledon crown. If he doesn’t, the partnership will appear to have failed which will be harsh as it will only have had two weeks to gel. But Mauresmo, who had a brief spell coaching Michael Llodra and is popular with most of the French male players, said the opportunity was too good to turn down. So we shall just have to wait and see.

Amelie Mauresmo gives a press conference during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 08 June 2014. Mauresmo announced that she will be replacing Ivan Lendl as British number one Andy Murray’s new coach.

The initial reaction, however, was one of shock. “You’re kidding, right?” was how Michael Mortensen greeted the news. “I never expected that. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.”

The Dane has plenty of reverse experience on the subject. Mortensen had a very successful spell with Li Na, helping her win the French Open title in 2011 but then found it difficult to work with a woman who had trouble reacting to the sudden demands of fame.

Paul McNamee, the former Wimbledon doubles champion, is now the coach of the world No 1 female doubles player, Sue-Wei Hsieh who had just won the French title with Shuai Peng when I spoke to him. “It’s a bold move on Andy’s part,” he said. “I wouldn’t like to say whether it is going to work. We’re going to find out pretty soon!”

Before the men’s final, I found Marian Vajda, long time coach to Novak Djokovic, having lunch in the players’ restaurant. The news nearly knocked him off his chair. “No, you’re joking,” he said when I told him the news was official. “Amelie Mauresmo and Andy Murray? I’m shocked. I had heard rumors but I thought people were just having fun.”

The news certainly gave Vajda food for thought. Murray will almost certainly be facing Djokovic in some big matches over the coming months and Mauresmo’s coaching may have a different effect to that of Ivan Lendl who stopped working with the Scot at the end of last year. “Yes, maybe we will have to start studying female coaching methods,” Vajda laughed. “It’s certainly an interesting choice by Andy.”

Apart from Tim Mayotte, who was coached briefly by Billie Jean King in his playing days, there are two current examples of male players being coached by women – both from Eastern Europe. The Kazakstani, Mikhail Kukushkin is coached by his wife Anastasia while Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan has always been coached by his mother.

And we shouldn’t forget that Jimmy Connors was, too. And, as Vajda was quick to point out, his own man, Djokovic was brought into the game at the age of six and mentored for many years by Jelena Gencic, who had worked with Monica Seles and was, according to Novak, a remarkable person. He was devastated when she died at the age of 76 last year and credits Gencic with having taught him so many things, not just about tennis, but how to conduct himself in the world at large. Now that Djokovic has grown into Serbia’s best ambassador, the country has a lot to thank her for.

So women have had a considerable effect on the lives of male tennis players but, as Naumko, who is still working with juniors, both boys and girls, told Blair Henley of Tennis Now in Memphis a year ago, “It’s not so different. You have an opponent and balls. You hit the balls and you find strengths and weaknesses. It’s the same for both.”

Murray and Mauresmo will be hoping to keep it that simple.

Topics: Amelie Mauresmo, Andy Murray, Elena Baltacha, French Open, Li Na, Novak Djokovic, Rally For Bally, Richard Evans, Roland Garros, Tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

June 9, 2014 at 8:48 am

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10sBalls_com says:

June 10, 2014 at 11:41 am

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TennisGS says:

June 11, 2014 at 3:20 pm

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10sBalls_com says:

June 11, 2014 at 6:01 pm

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June 23, 2014 at 9:54 am

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June 25, 2014 at 5:39 pm

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June 30, 2014 at 5:59 pm

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