Tennis - Andy Murray ‘amazed’ by criticism of Amelie Mauresmo appointment
Andy Murray has revealed that he was amazed by the level of criticism he received after appointing Amelie Mauresmo as his coach.
Murray became the first leading male player to appoint a female coach when he made the appointment in June 2014.
"I knew it would be a big story at the beginning but I thought it would die down quicker than it has," Murray said in an interview Red Bulletin magazine.
"I was very surprised at the amount of criticism she received for each loss I had. I couldn't believe the negativity towards her personally."
Mauresmo, who coached Marion Bartoli to the Wimbledon title in 2013 and is also captain of France's Fed Cup team, was appointed after Ivan Lendl quit the role.
In explaining his appointment of Mauresmo last year, Murray said: "She was someone who struggled with nerves and conquered them later in her career. Someone like that can help more than someone who hasn’t had those issues before.
"You can talk about Amelie’s accomplishments, she won a lot. She was No 1 in the world, she won multiple Grand Slams, she had a creative game style.
"As a person, she is very nice, very easy to communicate with, but she is firm as well. So those are the reasons I wanted to give it a shot."
However, that did not stop other male players from passing their judgement on the appointment, Australian Marinko Matosevic made some pretty inflammatory remarks soon after Murray’s decision.
"For me, I couldn't do it since I don't think that highly of the women's game," said Matosevic. But, you know, his (Murray's) mum coached him and she did a great job with him so we'll see what happens."
However, Murray remains surprised that the decision has still draws such focus.
"I know a lot of the players were surprised because I do hear what goes on in the locker room," he added.
"Some comments did make it into the press before it was officially announced, that some people thought it was a joke I was playing along with. To me, it's amazing to hear that.
“I wasn't thinking of it being a groundbreaking move or having an influence that could cross over into other sports. Then, after seeing the response to it, and some of the things that have been said, I can see it is."
The 28-year-old Briton has had a stellar season on clay, after claiming a maiden clay court title against Philipp Kohlschreiber in Munich before following that up with a title in Madrid where he overcame Rafael Nadal.
Swede Jonas Bjorkman was recently added to Murray's coaching staff and he will play a bigger role particularly during the hard court season after Mauresmo announced she was pregnant.
