Andy Murray responds to Mauresmo's back-handed criticism: 'It's been better the last three weeks'
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Updated 23/05/2016 at 13:38 GMT
World number two Andy Murray has defended his on-court behaviour following criticism from his former coach Amelie Mauresmo.
Mauresmo, Murray
Image credit: AFP
Mauresmo told France's L'Equipe this weekend that she had found Murray "confusing" to work with, and hinted that his angry on-court persona was something that she struggled to deal with.
"Andy is complex. On the court, he can be the opposite of what he is in life. It can be confusing," she said.
"I was there to help. I had the feeling I could not get things done. I had the impression we got to the end of what could be done professionally.
"It was concluded that it would be difficult to continue. I just reduced my number of weeks of attendance since the last Australian Open and we actually spent little time together. It turns out that it was a difficult time for him, I could not help him. But this decision [to split] was initiated some time ago."
Murray was asked by the same newspaper about Mauresmo's comments, and defended his angry on-court outbursts.
"I don’t think staying completely silent is a good thing for me," he said. "You have to find the point of balance, the right amount."
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Murray: Working with Delgado as coach has been good so far
Murray also delivered a criticism every bit as pointed as Mauresmo's, suggesting that he has found things better in the last few weeks - or in other words, since the Frenchwoman left his team.
"I don’t find [the balance] every day but for three weeks I have been getting there," he said to the paper, in quotes translated via the Telegraph. "In recent weeks I’ve done some good work on my attitude.
"It’s true, emotions overtake me sometimes on court. I am emotional, I know that. Some people say it’s positive when I don’t show my emotions, when I control them completely.
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Murray splits with coach Mauresmo
"Others say the opposite. It’s very difficult to place [say] where the truth is. The thing that is most important, is to know whether the fact of being emotional makes me play the points afterwards badly, if that disrupts me.
"I have in the past played matches where I haven’t opened my mouth. Shown nothing. And they were matches that were horrible, lost, flat.
"I have a need to express myself on the court. And that means expressing positive emotions, too...
Since I was a kid that I’ve been like that. I have always been extremely competitive who would get frustrated with himself if he was losing. But if I was winning, I was just as demonstrative. I don’t know exactly where that comes from. Is it just me? Is it the situation? Is it outside influences? It has been there, in me, since I was 11 or 12 years old.
Murray admitted that he's occasionally been ashamed of his behaviour when he's seen his own matches replayed.
"Sometimes I am embarrassed. You have to try to understand that, on the court, a lot of things are happening to us," he said.
"The way in which you react is not necessarily linked to what you really think, on reflection. That’s sport. It’s tough, there’s pressure, it’s not perfect.
"And then, when I say what I say, just because I am speaking in the direction of my box it doesn’t mean it’s against my coach or my team. It’s very often self-criticism. I am having a go at myself. But I’m not resigning myself to this being unchangeable. I’ve been working on it for years, I am trying to be better.”
Interestingly, Murray's assessment - that he has to find the balance - tallies with the words of veteran coach Nick Bolletieri, who said that he had "no problem" with the Scot "throwing his fist" at his box, adding that, "you can’t take everything away from the man...
"But remember, Boris Becker used to slap his a***, but get right back into the next point. That’s what Boris has brought to Djokovic now," added Bolletieri.
"You can’t hold in frustration all the time, but you have to know how to release it and get ready for the next point, instead of bouncing all around, cussing and everything like that.”
Murray's mother Judy then stoked the fires further as she made some comments on Twitter suggesting that there is more than meets the eye to the situation.
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