By Erik Gudris | Monday, June 9, 2014

 

Amelie Mauresmo working with Andy Murray is big news. But can they sync up in time for Wimbledon?

Photo Credit: AP

Welcome to British tennis.

That was the first phrase Amelie Mauresmo was greeted with during her press conference right before the start of the French Open men's final. It's very hard to upstage both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, but Mauresmo along with Andy Murray almost pulled it off after news of their coaching alliance broke on Sunday.

ATP: Murray Selects Mauresmo as His New Coach

While Murray's announcement was expected any day, picking Mauresmo generated even more headlines for the simple fact she is a woman. While most chose to write about that, Mauresmo correctly pointed out that the real story is why the reigning Wimbledon champion chose Mauresmo at all.

"We all know his mother was a big part of his tennis career," Mauresmo said. "I think he's maybe looking for something different, about emotions and sensitive things. It's not really interesting for me, this part of the story, to be honest. All I'm interested in is to be able to help him in his goals. That's about it. The rest is the story for you to write, I guess. But, yeah, for me it's a challenge. I want to take it."

Murray's unexpected split with Ivan Lendl back in March left the Scot in an unsure state about himself and his game. Despite posting better than expected results during the clay court season, including his run to the semis last week in Paris, Murray remained vocal about wanting a new coach. Feeling the need to hear a new voice in his quest to win more Grand Slams, Murray kept telling everyone he would hire someone new soon. Murray's ultimate decision is surprising to a degree, but not as groundbreaking as some might think.

Plenty of women have coached guys throughout the sport's history and even today. Gloria Connors taught her son Jimmy Connors the game and then went on to coach him for many years. Tennis pioneer Billie Jean King briefly worked with American Tim Mayotte. On the current tour, Klaudiya Istomina coaches her son Denis Istomin. Mikhail Kukushkin is coached by his wife. Mauresmo herself coached French veteran Michael Llodra for a time. The precedent was set a long time ago before Murray's news.

With his partnership with Mauresmo, which for now will go through the grass court season, what Murray will learn or even achieve in the next few weeks is hard to say. Mauresmo, a former No. 1 who won both Wimbledon and the Australian Open, was known for an all-court game built upon the effective but nowadays rarely used serve and volley. No one is expecting Murray to become a serve and volleyer overnight. But even Mauresmo cautioned any improvement in Murray's game likely might not manifest even at Wimbledon.

"I'll help him as best as I can. When he contacted me, the point is not to say, Okay, it has to work immediately from the word 'go.' No, the thing is that we want to do something in the midterm, you see, because miracles, no, they don't happen, not overnight. Even though you can give him new dynamics, it will not happen overnight. I want the best for him. So that's good."

Despite expressing caution on expecting quick results, the pressure will be on both Mauresmo and Murray to produce another "miracle" at Wimbledon, at least for the British public and the often caustic British press. Since winning Wimbledon last year, Murray has yet to reach another final. While he appears to finally be getting back on track after his recent back surgery, Murray is seeking that extra something to put him back in the winner's circle. Right now, he feels Mauresmo will help him find it.

Murray himself said he could care less what the public or even fellow players think about his decision -- a decision he knew would be analyzed and scrutinized even more due to the fact that it's right before Wimbledon.

“My mum listened extremely well and I feel that’s what I need now. I listen to my body more at this stage of my career and you cannot push extremely hard every day," Murray said to the UK press. "It doesn’t feel like a strange thing to do and I don’t care if other players think it’s a good move or not."

Something exciting could be in store for tennis fans if Murray and Mauresmo really do click. But hopefully their progress as a team will be defined by what happens on the practice court and in matches, and not by endless dwelling on the fact that Mauresmo is a female coach on the ATP Tour.

So why Mauresmo, many keep asking? As the French would say, "Pourquoi pas?" (Why not?)