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Britain’s top tennis player Andy Murray has appointed former women’s world number one and two time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach.
Mauresmo is currently the Fed Cup captain of France and will work with Murray for the grass court season, which begins this week.
Murray has been without a coach since March, when he ended his two-year partnership with Ivan Lendl. Lendl guided Murray to win his first two Grand Slam victories in the 2012 US Open, and 2013 Wimbledon championship.
Mauresmo coached Marion Bartoli to her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last year.
“I’m really excited to be able to work with Andy,” said Mauresmo. “He’s an amazingly talented tennis player and I feel I have plenty to offer both him and the team around him.”
It is rare to see male players working with female coaches but Mauresmo coached Frenchman Michael Llodra during the 2010 grass court season, and Murray was coached by his mother Judy in the early part of his career.
“For me, it didn’t feel like a strange thing to do just because I grew up with a female coach,” said Murray.
Murray is not the only male player to work with a female coach. Former top-10 players Tim Mayotte and Andrei Chesnokov were coached by females. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin has been coached by his now wife and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin is coached by his mother.
“I have a very strong coaching team already in place, but I think Amelie brings with her experience and tactical expertise and will push us all to improve,” added Murray.
Grass season starts this week and Murray has two titles to defend. He will start the defence of his Queen’s Club title this week in London and his Wimbledon defence will begin on June 23 at the All England Club.
It is interesting to see how Mauresmo will help the Scot to improve his game and defend his two titles on grass. Will the relationship be a successful? Will they continue after Wimbledon?
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