Murray: I once tried to team up with Agassi
Andy Murray once made an initial inquiry to andre agassi about his coaching availability, not long after he first split with Ivan Lendl in 2014. However, the talks never got past first base as the american swiftly indicated that he would not be prepared to spend sufficient time travelling on the circuit.
That may turn out to be the hitch in agassi’s relationship with novak djokovic, although their trial pairing continued to prosper in Paris yesterday when the Serb made it through to the third round of the French Open with a straight sets win over Portuguese no 1 Joao Sousa.
Murray, who today plays volatile Slovak Martin Klizan in the second round, recalled: ‘I spoke briefly to dani (Vallverdu, his travelling coach) about it after I stopped working with Ivan the first time. I chatted to darren Cahill about it (agassi’s former coach).
‘For what I needed at the time, he just didn’t think he would be able to give enough time for what I needed.’
agassi watched on yesterday, but politely declined later to talk about his work with djokovic. However, he indicated he would be likely to speak at a function for his sponsors ‘later in the week’, suggesting he is not yet ready to jump on a flight back home.
Murray is part of a British double bill today, which also sees Kyle Edmund have an unexpected chance of reaching the last 32 for the first time when he faces world no 91 renzo Olivo.
The argentine yesterday completed a match suspended from late on Tuesday by upsetting local hero Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, breaking in the first game upon resumption to complete a 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 win.
Edmund and Murray are the last two GB survivors after aljaz Bedene went down in four sets to Jiri Vesely of the Czech republic.
Murray will attempt to build on his improved first-round display against world no 50 Klizan, who in a tempestuous opener was accused of tanking and faking injury by his opponent Laurent Lokoli.
The 30-year-old Scot said he was prepared to tackle someone known as an abrasive character. ‘It can be tough but I’ve played well over 800 matches on the tour so I’ve seen pretty much everything,’ said Murray. ‘ There wouldn’t be too much that would shock me when I’m out there now.
‘If he’s tanking sets against me, I’m happy with that. He’s an unorthodox player. He’ll go through patches in the match where he’s playing some unbelievable stuff and then he drops off a little bit and plays some strange shots which may appear like he’s not interested.’
Bedene looked like he might escape to the sanctuary of an overnight delay before losing 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 at gone 9pm local time.
The British no 3, who this week hinted he might consider reverting to representing Slovenia after failing to gain permission to play in the davis Cup for Great Britain, was outhit for the first two sets and could not quite recover.
The towering Czech left hander, better than his ranking of 57, seemed to be tiring at the end but a slack game at 4-3 down cost Bedene dearly.
Bedene said afterwards that he planned to continue his battle to represent GB in the davis Cup. ‘It’s not done, I have been fighting a long time to play davis Cup for Britain and I will keep fighting,’ he said.
With djokovic and rafael nadal winning easily, the best match on show was an emotional four- set win for Steve Johnson, whose father — a respected coach in uS College tennis — passed away unexpectedly three weeks ago.
american Johnson defeated Croatian Borna Coric 6-2, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 and then burst into tears, while his opponent smashed his racket to pieces. ‘Emotionally I’m a mess,’ Johnson admitted.
The day’s biggest upset came when Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, the world no 114, scored the best win for a woman from an arab country at a Grand Slam. She beat no 6 seed dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 6-3.