You’re the one who has to listen to your coach, Andy, not the other way around
THE MOST worrying thing about Andy Murray’s exit is the fact it suggested a regression in the mental side of his game to the pre-Ivan Lendl days. He lost meekly and there was no fighting spirit.
It was a 1/10 performance from a mental point of view — the sort of display that you would never conceive of from a great player like he is. Andy had the demeanour of a first-round loser rather than a defending champion and he deserves to be criticised for his poor attitude. He was grumbling right from the start of the match and giving all the wrong signals to his opponent Grigor Dimitrov, who himself was nervous and there for the taking at times. I don’t know why Andy was shouting ‘f****** five minutes before the match,’ up at his box but that is the sort of negative thing he cut out under Lendl and it’s creeping back in again.
I don’t think he’ll end his partnership with Amelie Mauresmo immediately and she deserves some time but it hasn’t been an immediate success.
There were concerning signs from the start. Andy said he’d appointed her because she was a ‘good listener’. Well I’ve got news for him – it’s you who should be doing the listening, not the other way round. Amelie is a Grand Slam winner and was tactically very good throughout her career but Andy needs someone who will set standards and enforce rules, not simply someone to lend an ear.
After the match he said he was going to go away and work on certain aspects of his game but I think he was playing the best tennis of his life in the opening three rounds — there didn’t seem to be any problems with his form. It is 90-per cent mental with Andy and that’s the area he needs to address because if he doesn’t get back to how he was in the Lendl days he won’t win another Slam. Lendl cut out his main weakness, which was the mental side, and him not being in his corner this time round was a big negative. I don’t think dropping down to 10 in the world is a big crisis for Andy but he does need to get back on the right track quickly. If Amelie doesn’t stay around I think he still needs a Grand Slam winner as his coach, someone who has been as good, if not better, than he is. He might look towards someone like Mats Wilander, Jimmy Connors or even John McEnroe, if they would do the job and commit to the travelling.
His assistant coach and hitting partner Dani Vallverdu has been a big part of his success over the years. They first met at a Barcelona tennis academy and he has been by Murray’s side almost constantly for the last four years. But in football the assistant manager usually wants to move up and be the boss eventually. Dani might be getting frustrated about being told ‘you’re doing a good job but I need someone extra, a big name to be the main coach’. That’s possibly a source of friction.