Friday 25 July 2014

Andy Murray set to persevere with Amelie Mauresmo

Mauresmo and Murray linked up for Wimbledon (©GettyImages)

Andy Murray looks set to retain Amelie Mauresmo as his coach despite a disappointing start to their partnership.
The Briton revealed to his fans, via his Facebook page, that he was back in training in Miami ahead of the American hard court season. In a series of photographs, one stood out - it showed Mauresmo busy on her phone during the session.
According to various news outlets, the snaps confirm the rumours that Murray and Mauresmo are set to persevere in their coaching relationship.
Bad start
In many sports; a coaching shake-up often leads to a short-term improvement in results, but it certainly wasn't that way with these two. The British no.1 had two title defences at Queen's and Wimbledon on his hands as he appointed the 35-year-old on a temporary basis for the grass court season.
Murray was dumped out of Queen's in the second round and was then humiliated in brutal fashion by Grigor Dimitrov on Centre Court at the SW19 quarter-finals. The difficult summer has seen his world ranking plummet to the verge of him falling out of the world's top ten. 
These results came as a shock considering a coachless Murray defied his least favourite surface of clay to make it to the French Open semis, his best ever showing. 
Discontent
There had been some suggestion that the pair could go their separate ways after Wimbledon. Murray appeared agitated with his team in the loss to Dimitrov, and it hadn't been a particularly happy camp in the build-up. 
Rumours of discontent had spread after it appeared his long-term assistant, Dani Vallverdu, as well as his fitness coach and physio had been kept in the dark over Mauresmo's initial announcement.
US Open preparations
However, all looks to be calm now, with all looking happy in the photos. It means that Murray is set to reveal that Mauresmo will still be in place for the US Open which starts later in August. 
The 27-year-old is a former winner at Flushing Meadows, it was the destination of his maiden Grand Slam triumph when he beat Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller back in 2012 under former coach Ivan Lendl.
Things didn't go quite so well last year when he lost out to Stanislas Wawrinka in the last eight, it was a loss which preceded a troublesome spell of injury with consequential surgery and a tough rehabilitation period.   
Contenders
The former world No.3 will hope that things can be different in New York this time around, though, as ever, there will be plenty of likely contenders. Rafael Nadal is the defending champion, while the likes of Novak Djokovic - the new world No.1 - and Roger Federer are always in the hunt.
Furthermore, the Wimbledon breakthrough acts like Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios and Dimitrov will hope to consolidate their decent form and ascent up the rankings. 
Things will become a little clearer on who to watch out for when the next Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto kicks-off at the start of August, with most the top players registered to feature.

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