AMELIE MAURESMO AND ANDY MURRAY STILL FIGURING OUT COACHING ARRANGEMENT AND TEAM MURRAY FOR 2015

Written by: Staff on 24th December 2014

AMELIE MAURESMO AND ANDY MURRAY STILL FIGURING OUT COACHING ARRANGEMENT AND TEAM MURRAY FOR 2015 |

Mauresmo Will Add To Her Staff After Australian Open

Frenchman Loic Courteau, the coach who guided Amelie Mauresmo to a couple of Grand Slam singles titles nearly nine years ago, has confirmed he is prepared to again link up with his former charge and join Andy Murray’s team as soon as the upcoming Australian Open is over.

As reported in yesterday’s Bob Larson World Tennis News, 50 year-old Courteau is the man identified to provide more experience and know how into the support of the former Wimbledon and US Open champion who lost the highly valued services of Ivan Lendl in March.

Courteau is obligated to coach his compatriot Julien Benneteau at the Australian Open but thereafter is free to work with other players. Now he has told the French sporting newspaper L’Equipe: “A few weeks ago I had some discussions with Amelie, who had talked about it with Andy.

“It would definitely be a super interesting challenge to coach Murray and in addition with Amelie would be fabulous. I have spoken to Julien about this, and at the Australian Open I will be with him.”

Courteau has spent the last five years working with Benneteau who, at the age of 33, is currently on a rich vein of form. This week as world no.25, he occupies highest ever singles ranking after winning the 2014 title in Bordeaux and reaching the final in Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile on the doubles court, he and fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin have become one of the best doubles teams in the world and were semi-finalists at the recent Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

“With Julien’s experience, he could work on his own,” insisted Courteau who will discuss the finer details of the arrangement with Murray in the build up to the Australian Open. “I talked straight to Julien. If he was not autonomous, it would mean that I did a bad job.”

Courteau continued: “I had not been able to talk directly with him, as he was leaving the Philippines after playing in the International Premier Tennis League. The plan was to work with him in the year, with a base in England. It would be necessary for Murray to make me an offer that I can’t refuse to go there.”

Courteau would step into a vacancy left by the defection of Murray’s longtime friend and former Casal-Sanchez Academy roommate Dani Vallverdu who resigned because of an incompatibility with Mauresmo and has now been employed as coach by world no.7 Tomas Berdych.

“The thing I like most about Dani is that he’s a fresh new guy who’s going to come and work with me,” said the Czech. “He’s going to see my tennis with different eyes, which is very important because I think when you’ve spent a long time with a certain team, you can kind of lose the wider angle.

“Dani is very strong in knowing the players and making strategies for matches. That’s something I was missing a bit. It’s about trying to bring a bit more variety in my game, having options, and knowing what is the right thing to do in each moment. I think these details can make a big difference in the end.

“I’m giving myself the opportunity that when I step on the tennis court, I’ll have all the cards in my hand and can use them in the match.”

CONTENT VIA Bob Larson news service.

10sballs.com Editors Note : Every year we see the “musical Chairs ” the Square dance. Everyone’s changing partners. Everyone’s swapping coaches. Hitting partners. Trainers. This year started with Roger eliminating his ” physio therapist ” , masseur Stephane who was scooped up by Grigor ASAP. It’s really strange being part of a team that has all sorts of backgrounds and personalities and egos. We knew it but we just had it confirmed that the Bryan brothers. Almost totally identical twins won a slam being so pissed at each other not even speaking to each other. So if brothers feel the stress of the tour imagine the rest of these teams or entourages. Travelling as a group is weird. Sharing meals daily. Rooms. Flights. Cabs. Courtesy cars. It’s always something that gets someone’s feathers ruffled. Even Novak said it was odd getting used to Boris. Interesting we didn’t see that one lasting at all. Monfils announced yesterday he wants a team. The practice partner. The coach. The physio. Personally I liked the old days when one guy coached a few guys or players. They all hung out together and travelled together. But the huge costs of travelling the world as a group was split up and shared.

Topics: Amelie Mauresmo, Andy Murray, coaches, Loic Courteau, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

December 24, 2014 at 9:03 am

-@AmeMauresmo AND @andy_murray STILL FIGURING OUT COACHING ARRANGEMENT, AND TEAM #MURRAY FOR 2015- http://t.co/XT7TcKigy3 #tennis #MerryXmas