Andy Murray hires female coach, Amelie Mauresmo

[Vida]

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/27753849

I think this is great. Rare I think in the world of tennis/sport for a man at the top of his game to have a female coach?

[tribpot]

Does seem pretty rare from the list the Beeb were able to dredge up for the article at least. The commentary notes there may be 'raised eyebrows in the locker room' - I find that a bit hard to believe. Mauresmo is an experienced coach and a great tennis player. Does she have to be notionally 'better' than Murray to coach him? Arguably she is but equally that's not really the point. Coaching is a different skill to playing.

Good for both of them - this shouldn't be unusual enough to warrant a comment. But it is.

[Meglet]

This really cheered me . And I'm relieved he's got it sorted in time for Wimbledon.

[BillnTedsMostFeministAdventure]

Plenty of coaches are "worse" than their players - there are only a certain number of grand slam winners to go round and not all of them want to coach.

"The commentary notes there may be 'raised eyebrows in the locker room"

Sigh. If a female player appoints a male coach, any such comments? Thought not...

[AskBasil]

I await the news that his penis has fallen off.

[tribpot]

Yes, or the coaches are just that: professional coaches - like Betty Callaway of Torvill and Dean fame. No personal experience of competitive ice skating at all, didn't seem to do her any harm.

[avocadogreen]

Pat Cash on the radio was just making comments about 'I don't know how she'll get in the locker room' As if plenty of female players don't have male coaches!

[MrsMaturin]

Good for Andy. Amelie Mauresmo had a fantastic career where she beat plenty of her own demons. Very stimulating coaching presence I would think.

[BillnTedsMostFeministAdventure]

"Pat Cash on the radio was just making comments about 'I don't know how she'll get in the locker room' As if plenty of female players don't have male coaches!"

Err, what??

[MrsMaturin]

Just heard Andy on the radio - basically he was specifically looking for a female coach because he felt they would listen to him well and support where he's at now. That was his motivation - he wanted a woman to coach him and he feels Mauresmo 'gets' the pressure of a home crowd plus she knows Wimbledon well so she's a good fit.

[FairPhyllis]

You don't have to be a big champion to be a coach (although Mauresmo is a former No.1 and has two slam titles). Nadal is still coached by his Uncle Tony. It's often about mental preparation, and Mauresmo has got experience of overcoming mental blocks in competition. Her backhand was a huge part of her game as is Murray's, so I think all round it's a good fit.

Lendl was a great choice and I'm impressed with the choice of Mauresmo too.

[gamescompendium]

Shows how a strong mother can produce a male feminist. I will have to channel my inner Judy for DS!

[DoctorTwo]

Grauniad article with rather less in the way of sexism, including Andy's reasoning. Amelie was a superb player and already heads the French Federation Cup team.

[tribpot]

Grauniad article was indeed a marked improvement over the Beeb, thank you!

[BillnTedsMostFeministAdventure]

Yes, that is a nice article, very factual and then rounding off with a "this is rare, but not unheard of" summary.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Him and Lendl didn't fall out did they?

He just moved on?

[hoboken]

If she proves to be an effective coach, great. If she doesn't he will have to find another. Just the same as if he had appointed a male coach.

[HalfSpamHalfBrisket]

When I heard this first on R4 I thought it was a bit off they said "Andy Murray has appointed a new female coach...".
I doubt they would have phrased it as "Andy Murray has appointed a new male coach" if he'd signed a man.

I look forward to the day when the Beeb embraces non-sexist language where it can -what is so hard about "Andy Murray has appointed a new coach - Amelie Maurismo"

[TheSameBoat]

"Andy Murray open to hiring female coach after French Open" from the Beeb!

I mean for goodness sake! Why on earth wouldn't he be?!

[BillnTedsMostFeministAdventure]

Yy half - it's not like Amelie is a gender-neutral name!

[tribpot]

Surely loads of female athletes have male coaches? Amazingly somehow they deal with not going into the locker room ... don't they?

[FangGirl]

Andy has been demonised over his dour attitude but I am proud to say that I have always liked him a lot!

[weebarra]

I think Mauresmo had quite a lot of press negativity to deal with regarding her appearance when she was playing, so I would expect she will have a lot of expertise regarding the psychological aspects, and she did have a cracking backhand.
It's a pity her gender is newsworthy though.