Virginia Wade has slammed Wimbledon champion Andy Murray's decision to hire Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo as a joke.
Murray rocked the tennis world earlier this month when he announced Mauresmo would succeed Ivan Lendl as his coach initially for the grass-court season.
Former world number one Mauresmo is one of the only female coaches to work with a leading male player and Wade, who won Wimbledon women's crown in 1977, is unconvinced the move will prove a success.
The Scot will begin the defence of his Wimbledon title on Monday, the first British singles player to do so since Wade in 1978.
"It's hard to read him. Mauresmo was a total shock, I thought they were all fooling around. I think again he's maybe trying to mess with everybody. I don't know," Wade said on Saturday.
"She was a great player, she's a great person. I think she was a little fragile mentally because she had the capabilities of beating everybody.
"She's laid back, she's a very nice, mature person. But I can't work it out at all.
"You like to try to get behind people's thinking but I can't really with this one. You try to see what somebody's going to offer that player.
"Unless he just needs somebody there to say 'well done', which is possible too. As a player you need somebody to endorse you sometimes and not try to change anything.
"I have to say I thought Lendl would be a difficult choice but that was very successful.
"There's not quite the same intensity about Andy as maybe a year ago."
Source: AFP
