British tennis star Andy Murray wants more female coaches to be given space in Tennis given that more stars of the game are managed by male coaches.
This is after Murray revealed that working with his coach who is a woman Amelie Mauresmo has “opened his eyes” to inequality in the sport.
Maurray hired his coach morea than a year ago and he says working with her has proved to be successful for him with his most recent wins being clay-court titles in Munich and Monte Carlo
Murray is currently working towards his French Open tittle bid on 24th of May and insists that more needs to be done to give women coaches a chance in the sport .
Murray’s coach will take a break after the 24th May tournament to prepare to give birth to her first child.
“I knew it hadn’t happened before,” Murray told magazine RedBulletin. “But I wasn’t thinking of it being a ground-breaking move or having an influence that could cross into other sports.
“Then, after seeing the response to it, and some of the things that have been said, I can see it is. I’ve actually become very passionate about getting more women in sport, giving women more opportunities. When I was younger, I wasn’t thinking about stuff like that. But now I’ve seen it with my own eyes, it’s quite amazing how few female coaches there are across any sport.”
Murray said his appointment of Mauresmo was greeted with derision by certain unnamed professionals in the locker rooms of world tennis, but said the former world No.1 has offered him something previous coach Ivan Lendl could not – a willingness to listen.
“I knew it would be a big story,” Murray said. “But I thought it would die down quicker. Before I started working with Amelie, I was losing – I started last year much worse than I finished it, so I was very surprised at the amount of criticism she received for each loss I had.
“I was able to be open the very first time we chatted. After the surgery I really needed help and guidance. She listened well to how I was feeling.”
Murray suggested the testosterone-fuelled environment of his previous all-male coaching teams often resulted in big arguments – and said it could be argued his outlook of wanting everybody to be treated equally makes him a “feminist”.
Murray is currently the only member of world’s top 50 with a female coach.
