Andy Murray to bide time on search for new coach ahead of French Open

20 May 2016 03:23

Andy Murray is in no hurry to find a new coach and may stick with Jamie Delgado long term.

Former British player Delgado joined the world number two's team in February as assistant to Amelie Mauresmo but assumed senior status when Murray announced his split from the Frenchwoman earlier this month.

With Mauresmo unwilling to commit as much time as she had to the partnership, Delgado had already become a prominent figure and the success of his integration into the team may have been a factor in Murray's decision.

The Scot talked in the immediate aftermath of Mauresmo's departure about wanting to have a new coach in place for Wimbledon but he has not yet talked to any possible candidates.

And that might not be about to change soon, with Murray happy to stick with what has proved a winning formula.

Having been in Murray's corner for his runs to the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo and the final in Madrid, Delgado's first tournament as the 29-year-old's sole coach ended with him beating Novak Djokovic to win the title in Rome last weekend.

Murray said: " Obviously with the way that everything went in Rome and Madrid, things are going well just now, so no need to rush into anything. I'm happy with the work I have done with Jamie so far.

"That's for sure possible (to stick with Delgado). I'm always looking to improve, so if there is something that I feel could help me, then for sure I would look into that in terms of another person to help out, and also to give him (Delgado) a break as well from time to time.

"Travelling every single week during the year and every practice week is tough, and it's the beginning of our relationship just now. Normally over time, when you spend so much time with each other, having a little bit of separation can be good, too."

Delgado's highest ranking was 121 but he certainly does not lack experience having played at Wimbledon for 23 consecutive years.

He only retired in September 2014, aged 37, to concentrate on coaching Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, who he guided from outside the top 300 into the top 40.

Murray said: " I enjoy working with him. I obviously know him very well. We get on well away from the court. But he's a very good people person. He communicates very well with everyone. He gets on well with my whole team. I find it very easy to chat to him.

"He's pretty calm. He's a relaxed guy. On top of that, he's very, very experienced around the tour. He's played whatever it was, 23 Wimbledons in a row, so he's been around the game a long, long time.

"And he's a good coach. He had good results with Gilles Muller and we've started well."

Friday's draw for the French Open was largely kind to Murray, who will play a qualifier in the first round.

Big servers Ivo Karlovic and John Isner, against whom he has excellent records, are the seeds in his section, and the only real negative was that he was placed in the same quarter as in-form fifth seed Kei Nishikori.

He was guaranteed to be in the opposite half to top seed Djokovic but also avoided Rafael Nadal, with Murray's potential semi-final opponent being defending champion Stan Wawrinka.

Playing a qualifier means avoiding the higher-ranked non-seeds, but it also has its potential pitfalls.

Murray said: "The qualifiers have played three matches. That's tough. They are probably feeling pretty good about their conditions and comfortable on the courts.

"It's only two days out from the start of the tournament and I don't know who I'm playing against yet. So you don't have as much time to start preparing for it.

"The positives are that often a lot of the qualifiers maybe have not played on the bigger courts and maybe you can capitalise a bit on that at the beginning if they are a little bit nervous."

Source: PA