Coaching by Mauresmo

Spectator · All-time great

Coaching by Mauresmo

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Yes, a vanishingly small set of potential clients. If we're looking for someone of the stature of Lendl.
I think McEnroe & Murray could be a bit too much, matter and anti-matter, in the volatility stakes to be productive.
Others that might fit the bill probably can't be persuaded for one reason or another - Borg, Agassi, Rafter, Sampras, Courier.
Wilander is looking for a charge, but has his media career lessened his esteem?
Who else is there?

wimdledont · Challenger level

I know I'm in a minority, but I'm no huge fan of celebrity coaches.

Andy's big breakthough at the pinnacle of the sport came under Leon Smith in the Olympic final in 2012, having failed against the same opponent on the same court just a month earlier with Lendl. Or does Leon's 2/2 success rate in the biggest competitions make him a celebrity now?

I expect Andy, who has an excellent tennis brain himself, and is at least partly self-coached, will make a very good choice.

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

I think it is a case of knowing what you need at the particular point you find yourself during your career. Lendl was the right guy to get Andy over the hump in slams and I do feel Amelie deserves credit for helping get Andy back on an even keel after a horrible 2014 when his head was really starting to drop.

I don't think it needs to be a celebrity coach either. I do think the more supportive approach of Amelie helped but probably now Andy might need someone willing to push him and get in his face a little more but great coaches are not always great players, most important for Andy will be buying in 100% to whatever changes his new coach wants to make. Mostly I am just excited that Andy wants to make this change which signals he is willing to give up a comfortable status quo and still feels that with the right adjustments a couple more major titles are within his grasp.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

One has to be in awe of Andy's broad minded approach to his continued professional development, he is at a point in his career where I can't see a big name coming in and impacting his capacity to beat Novak.

Spending time with coaches that are responsible for facilitating development of technique in young players, working with coaches who have had great success maximising the performance of mature but lesser players are all avenues well worth exploring. Revisiting his own development and reflecting on how in 2016 he might have done it different, assessing where others have found marginal gains.

I am constantly impressed by his curiosity and total Emersion in a game which is embedded in his DNA, his brother, his mother and his father in law between them also have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game.

There isn't much low hanging fruit to harvest however that doesn't stop him looking and Jamie Delgado who appears to have the same mindset seems as good a coach as any to bounce ideas off, hind sight will give us 20:20 vision but my feeling is employing an ego at this point may impact negatively on the process.

RJA · Hall of fame

Oakland2002 wrote:
One has to be in awe of Andy's broad minded approach to his continued professional development, he is at a point in his career where I can't see a big name coming in and impacting his capacity to beat Novak.

Spending time with coaches that are responsible for facilitating development of technique in young players, working with coaches who have had great success maximising the performance of mature but lesser players are all avenues well worth exploring. Revisiting his own development and reflecting on how in 2016 he might have done it different, assessing where others have found marginal gains.

I am constantly impressed by his curiosity and total Emersion in a game which is embedded in his DNA, his brother, his mother and his father in law between them also have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game.

There isn't much low hanging fruit to harvest however that doesn't stop him looking and Jamie Delgado who appears to have the same mindset seems as good a coach as any to bounce ideas off, hind sight will give us 20:20 vision but my feeling is employing an ego at this point may impact negatively on the process.

The problem with all this is that he isn't losing to Nole time and again because and of these minor points. Time and time again he matches Nole for a couple of sets but then fades away. No technical or tactical improvements will make any difference. Unless he rediscovers the desire and mental fortitude he found under Lendl he will carry on falling at the final hurdle. The theory of marginal gains is great in a highly technical sport like cycling but is of much less value in tennis.

indiana · Tennis legend

Andy's Slam titles were so much about attitude and sticking to a game plan of grinding controlled aggression, perhaps against many of his own natural instincts, all brought about I feel largely because of one man that Andy really respected finally absolutely convincing him that was the way to succeed rather than any 'smart' variations and keep to it. Andy's ability to mix it up, play more defensively often relying on anticipation became that extra he often had to get him out of a tight situation but not a go to.

His Slam victories over Djokovic were not the prettiest ever, but ultimately it was Djokovic particularly at Wimbledon that sought to change up and try variations.

I tend to think that after a couple of years or so of the the year after Wimbledon and his back surgery, moving onto marriage and the baby that he may have refound a desire to make the very best of his next few years and that means winning the titles that really matter and it may fit to link up again with a big name, a big personality, that together with there may be a drive to make a real project work, investing in each other. At Andy's stage to me it is so much more about drive, determination and a cause he believes in together with people he respects rather than technicalities. Some important decisions lie ahead and Lendl showed how important the right person can be, possibly particularly to someone with the personality Andy has. That could bring huge gains rather than looking for marginal gains.

Fair amount of speculation there

and partly some wishes, but maybe not so unlikely ...

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I am puzzled, tennis not technical? It's not mechanical I would agree, but it is highly technical. Nole didn't suddenly distance himself from the competition it was incremental in degree, and to a certain extent represents a degree of waning of competition. Andy wasn't that far off at the Australian in 2015, Nole was in pieces one minute recovering miraculously once he had an edge.

Andy has had a season out of competing at the highest level after his spinal surgery and Nole has been working on it. Rafa is not the force he was and even Rodge can only sip at the fountain of internal youth for so long. The margins are fine, Nole has had a period of sustained fitness, but if the roles are reversed, a niggle here a pull there a few five setters against improving youngsters and its game on. Andy needs to be in the best position to take that opportunity.

Sport at the highest level is all about constant analysis of not only ones own performance but also ones opponents, each tactic is an intervention seeking to exploit an opportunity to influence the outcome. The fact that the outcome is binary doesn't mean it cannot be altered by incremental improvement.

indiana · Tennis legend

Personally, I am not at all saying that tennis is not technical, nor did I see anyone else suggesting such. Of course it is hugely so. But Andy has mastered much of the technique a long time ago, which is not to say that he can't still learn and find marginal gains. But any marginal technical gains will not get him particularly close to Djokovic on a consistent basis, that would surely need a heck of a lot of marginal gains. If he can make some, good, but I do believe that attitude, belief and absolute desire, shared with people he believes in, could have much more impact in the next few years than incremental technical changes.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 9th of May 2016 11:17:56 PM

Michael D · All-time great

Andy has often been quite groundbreaking in his coaches. He was one of the first to employ a former great in Lendl, and obviously was groundbreaking with Amelie. Now, I personally don't think he is going to be bringing some wholly new name into his set up. Besides, in the last year he has already had another coach with him, almost as much as Amelie.Throughout the Davis Cup march - and some incredibly dogged performances - it was Leon Smith on the bench. He has been there from the beginning, and Andy trusts him a great deal. Andy also used Louis Cayer recently as part of his search to improve technical aspects of his serve, another part of the Davis Cup set up. Jamie Delgado also fits into this group of people. I would think part of Jamie's current role is to keep a check on these types of technical improvements that Andy is trying to make, ie Andy is doing his own research, then has a coach that is able to monitor his implementation of what he is trying to do. I would not be surprised to see Leon playing more of a future role again. He is not going to remain (solely) the Davis Cup coach forever, and he is one person that certainly does motivate Andy to go that extra mile in pulling off the fifth set win. And I agree with RJA, to get past Djokovic, that's where it probably is at for Andy at the moment. He wasn't far off yesterday in Madrid, though somehow you didn't quite believe (yet) that he was going to sustain his second set performance in the third. But those 7 BPs in the final game to get back onto serve. It certainly wasn't far off. Andy is not going to be looking for a wholly new direction now, just someone that will help him continue to build on what he is already doing, and help fire him through that final set.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

What is the situation with Jonas Bjorkman at the moment ? Is he also out of the picture completely ?

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Bjorkman was let go at the end of last year. Jamie D effectively replaced him this year as Andy's main travelling coach. I got the impression that Andy did not get as much from Jonas as he had hoped. With Amelie on maternity leave Jonas was running the show through the American hard court season and after Toronto through to the Tour finals it did not go very well.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Why limit incremental improvement to technique? Novak has frustrated me immensely in the past by manipulating the tempo of a game by appearing injured and then making a spontaneous and rapid recovery. I sense that he has a competitive edge here over Andy, in my mind slightly better tennis player but vastly inferior human being. Ego is for Novak a double edge sword it gives him a certain swagger on court but has lead to ridiculous comment about the ladies game.

Andy is the polar opposite championing equality and reason, a deep seated love of all things tennis but one senses an inner torment on court, his concious self at war with his instinctive skill set. Joko has made significant progress in this area and I think for Andy there is the potential to harvest some low hanging fruit, again it would be an incremental gain. Again I don't think a big name ex player or super coach is going to come in and have any impact here, it would be a single specialist intervention delivered on Andy's terms in a way acceptable to him.

RJA · Hall of fame

Oakland2002 wrote:
Novak has frustrated me immensely in the past by manipulating the tempo of a game by appearing injured and then making a spontaneous and rapid recovery.

I am not really sure it is fair to hold this against Nole without pointing out that Andy has done on the same on numerous occasions.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

RJA wrote:
Oakland2002 wrote:
Novak has frustrated me immensely in the past by manipulating the tempo of a game by appearing injured and then making a spontaneous and rapid recovery.
I am not really sure it is fair to hold this against Nole without pointing out that Andy has done on the same on numerous occasions.

As in changing the match tempo or as in feigning injury?