Andy Murray has told Amélie Mauresmo that he wants her to coach him at the Australian Open early next year and is ready to dispense with the services of Jonas Bjorkman if she returns from maternity leave.
Mauresmo relinquished her role as coach after Murray’s Wimbledon semi-final defeat by Roger Federer in July and gave birth to a son, Aaron, in August but has ruled out a return before the end of the year.
Bjorkman, who joined Murray’s team on a trial basis in March before taking over the reins from Mauresmo, is working with the Scot at the Shanghai Rolex Masters this week and is expected to continue for the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris next month and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Murray is known for his ability to be dispassionate when making tough decisions on who he wants to coach him and he has told Mauresmo that he wants her back at work before the Australian Open in January.
The 36-year-old Frenchwoman has promised to give Murray an answer on his return home from Shanghai and if she agrees, Bjorkman will be retained as an alternate coach and not be part of Murray’s preparation for the first grand-slam of the year in Melbourne.
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“I’m not having two coaches at the one tournament,” Murray said. “I’ve done that in the past and haven’t found it to be beneficial, really. From time to time it’s OK, but I think for me, in the biggest events, having a very clear voice and having one person there is better.”
Murray first worked with Bjorkman in the build-up to the French Open in May and won his first two titles on clay in Munich and Madrid under the Swede’s watch.
However, the 28-year-old found things uncomfortable when he tried to augment Miles Maclagan’s coaching expertise with Alex Corretja six years ago. Mauresmo gave birth just before the US Open, in which Murray experienced his worst grand-slam result for five years, and despite speculation that she might return for the BNP Paribas Masters, she will not be back before the Australian Open build-up begins with the Hopman Cup on January 3.
“The first tournaments would be in Australia,” Murray said. “She won’t be in Paris or London. We spoke about what I needed from her and had a good conversation. She’s gone away to think about it and said that she’ll get back to me when I’m finished here in Shanghai, when we can chat more. But I would say it was very positive and I think she wants to continue. Obviously it has to work for both of us, but I’m pretty positive about it.”
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The Scot has decided not to follow his usual routine of heading to his second home in Miami for a training block this winter and will do all his physical preparation in London because Kim, his wife, is due to give birth to the couple’s first child in early February.
Murray improved his chances of finishing this year ranked as the world No 2 for the first time after comfortably winning his opening match in Shanghai, beating Steve Johnson, of the United States, 6-2, 6-4. He now faces John Isner, who he left demoralised by a straight-sets defeat during March’s Davis Cup tie in Glasgow, and who he has beaten in their four past meetings.
Isner showed that strong serving can prove the undoing of Murray’s prospective Davis Cup final opponent from Belgium, David Goffin, with a 6-3, 7-6 win complete with 21 aces.
Any more victories will put even more points between Murray and the third-ranked Federer, who was beaten by Albert Ramos-Viñolas, the Spaniard, in the opening match of his Shanghai title defence.
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Rafael Nadal braved an onslaught of 24 aces from Ivo Karlovic but still managed to prevail 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 against the giant Croat after an extended confrontation lasting 2hr 44min. Novak Djokovic, the top seed, made much quicker work of beating Martin Klizan, of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-1.