Andy Murray concerned over lack of female tennis coaches

• British tennis star Andy Murray has expressed his concern over the lack of female tennis coaches
• Murray is one of the decorated tennis players who had a female tennis coach
• His tennis career peaked during this period

British tennis star Andy Murray has expressed his concern over the lack of female tennis coaches on both the ATP and WTA Tour respectively.

Murray is one of the decorated tennis players who had a female tennis coach and he excelled remarkably during her tenure.

He worked with Amelie Mauresmo, a two-time Grand Slam champion from 2014 to 2016.

It was during Mauresmo’s tenure that the Scot tennis star won his first clay-court championship, including the Madrid Open in 2015, which resulted in his maiden clay-court triumph over Rafael Nadal.

Moreover, he made it to three Grand Slam finals besides winning his first clay-court tournament. Mauresmo steered her to the French Open and Wimbledon semifinals.

Andy Murray biography. Photo/ Tennishead.

She left for maternity and came back later to guide Murray into the finals of his Australian Open for a fifth time but he lost to Novak Djokovic.

In her final round as Murray’s coach, Murray lost to Djokovic in a hard-fought final at the 2016 Madrid Open. She would part ways with the Scot after this and coached a few other tennis players while raising her young family.

Mauresmo eventually became the French Open director which is one of the four major slams. Nevertheless, he admits that his tennis career blossomed when he picked Mauresmo as his coach.

Going into Wimbledon this year, Murray observed the lack of female coaches in the sport.

“It’s strange, I’m probably surprised there’s not more female coaches across both (men’s and women’s) Tours,” he told the press at Wimbledon.

He adds: “I didn’t necessarily think at the time that it (being coached by Mauresmo) was for sure going to spark loads of new or more female coaches to come into the game. It wasn’t exactly received unbelievably well at the time, I wasn’t necessarily expecting that.”

However, looking at it critically, he says it is a deep-rooted problem in the sporting world and it starts from the bottom.

He is of the opinion that WTA and ATP Tour should step up on their campaign to get more women coaches at the lower tennis levels.

If this is successfully done, there will be more women transitioning as coaches on the men’s and women’s tours.

Meanwhile, Murray beat fellow countryman Ryan Peniston in his first match at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Andy Murray. Photo/Sky News

Murray gave Peniston a little too much early on and it delayed his win but he quickly finished off with a straight-sets victory.

He maintains that he hasn’t had good luck with the draw in recent Grand Slam tournaments and that forcing himself into tough matchups in the first rounds has hampered his chances.

Nonetheless, he was happy to win this inaugural match, and he is certain that in his current condition, he can take on any opponent.

“I’m playing well enough to beat most of the players, I think, in the draw if I play well,” he said. “Physically, I feel good. Yeah, physically I feel absolutely fine right now.”