PETE ZIEBRON
2013 Queen's Club & Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray Pete Ziebron Images
Andy Murray defeated Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-4 today at The Queen's Club in London in his first match working with a new member of his team, 2 time major champion Amelie Mauresmo. Murray had been playing without a coach since this March when Ivan Lendl decided to step aside. Lendl helped lead Murray to 2 major titles and an Olympic Gold Medal.
Twice in his pre-tournament press conference, Murray stated the importance in having a coach listen to him.
- First regarding Mauresmo, when they initially talked about the coaching possibility: "I thought she was extremely calm on the phone. She listened very well, and we had a couple of good conversations on the phone. I met up with her in Paris before the tournament. I chatted to her for about an hour and a half about a number of different things, obviously mainly about tennis and my team and how I like to work and what my goals were and stuff."
- Also when his Mother, Judy, coached him: "She came to a few tournaments with me when I didn't have a coach when I was 16, 17, futures tournaments, US Open juniors and stuff, so I have always had a strong female influence in my career. I found that, you know, with my mum especially that she listened extremely well."
Murray advanced to the semifinals of Roland Garros, matching his best career result in Paris. However, Murray only managed to win 6 games in the semifinal match, losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 3-6 2-6 1-6.
There may be a possibility that the lopsided loss to Nadal could carry over into Wimbledon, where Murray is the defending champion. In 2008, Roger Federer lost the Roland Garros final to Nadal 1-6 3-6 0-6. A few weeks later, Federer failed to defend his Wimbledon crown, losing in the final to Nadal. Many tennis aficianados cited that Federer's inability to make a respectable showing against Nadal in the Roland Garros final had a lasting impact when Nadal managed to beat him at Wimbeldon for the first time.
Prior to Wimbledon, Murray will seek to defend his Queen's Club tournament title and concurrently win the 250 level event for the 4th time in his career. Next up for Murray in the 3rd round will be the veteran Czech Radek Stepanek, who defeated Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6(4) 7-6(5) earlier today.
Murray elaborated that the appointment of Mauresmo could be a short term experiment but also added that he plans to learn from her insights: "It's just for the grass court season just now......I think there is a lot of things that she can bring.......she's won Wimbledon before herself and it will be interesting."
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