“It’s something that I've found surprising across both tours” - Andy Murray calls for an increase in female coaches in tennis

Andy Murray has stated that he is surprised by how there aren't many female coaches in tennis, especially on the WTA Tour. He also stressed on the need for more women to take up coaching roles on both tours.

Murray has first-hand experience of how good female coaches can be, having worked with two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo between 2014 and 2016. He has also worked with his mother, Judy, since his formative years and continues to turn to her for advice and more.

In a social media interaction on the Citi Open Instagram channel, Murray expressed his surprise at the lack of female coaches in tennis. He further said that it's something that needs to change and called for authorities to act on it.

“I think it [the initiative to increase the number of female coaches] is really important. It [the lack of female coaches] is something that I've found surprising across both tours, but particularly on the women's tour. Like how few female coaches there are,” he said.

“I think it's about time that the WTA had an initiative to try and help with this. Hopefully, those numbers increase because it's a very small amount. Certainly across the men's tours. And that's something that needs to change,” he added.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray also stated he and his brother Jamie were fortunate to have his mother's guidance throughout their careers.

“Me and my brother were very fortunate growing up that our mother was, is still, a tennis coach. We grew up with our mom coaching us and helping us. And she's still, you know, no all the time, but we will still chat to and speak to her about our games and our careers,” he opined.

“She's someone that I've spoken to about this and she's been unbelievably passionate about getting girls into tennis, but also the female coaching side of things and trying to get more female coaches involved in the sport,” he added.

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Andy Murray's former coach Amelie Mauresmo: “If I screwed up, all women would screw up with me”

Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

Under Amelie Mauresmo's guidance, Andy Murray reached three Grand Slam finals and won his maiden claycourt title. Most notably, he won the Madrid Open in 2015 defeating Rafael Nadal in the final, which was his first win against the Spaniard on clay.

The Frenchwoman took maternity leave to give birth to a son but joined forces with Murray once again and helped him reach his fifth Australian Open final, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

Recalling her time with Murray, Mauresmo stated that she was unsure of how she could help him as a coach considering she would be replacing former World No. 1 and eight-time Major winner Ivan Lendl.

“When Andy Murray first came to pick me up, I thought it was bulls***, it was a hoax. After Ivan Lendl, who was much better than me, I didn't see what I could bring him as a coach. It had never been done in men's tennis, or at least it hadn't been done very much,” the former world No. 1 once told Eurosport.

Mauresmo, who had previously worked with the likes of Victoria Azarenka, further said that she didn't have room to make mistakes in fear of the blowback it would have on all women.

“I had the impression that I had a lot of responsibility and that I didn't have the right to make mistakes. If I screwed up, all women would screw up with me,” he opined.

After coaching several players since parting ways with Andy Murray in 2016, Mauresmo currently serves as the tournament director at the French Open.