ANDY MURRAY has placed his trust in new coach Jonas Bjorkman to calmly guide him through Wimbledon and the US Open.
With Amelie Mauresmo, who has worked with the Scot since last June, due to have her first child in August, Murray revealed that the Swede, a former pro who made it to world No4, would step up his involvement, notably throughout the grass-court season and then, even when Mauresmo returns through the US hard-court swing.
This was half-expected after Mauresmo's surprise announcement and there also an acknowledgement from Murray that he may have to deal with life after his coach should she choose not to return to her day job following the birth.
"It's obviously great news for her, she's extremely happy," said Murray as he prepared for this week's BMW Open in Munich. "If all goes well, Jonas will spend a lot of time with me through Wimbledon and after that into the US Open as well and then, obviously, we'll need to see what happens with Amelie and decide (what happens) later in the year.
"I don't think she knows what her priorities are going to be and how she wants to deal with things, so we'll just see for a few months."
Murray said he was very pleased for Mauresmo, who has grown in stature as his coach since joining the team. But Murray is realistic enough to know that things might change for good.
"We'll just see because obviously it has to work both ways," he said. "Right now, Amelie does all of the major competitions but if she doesn't want to do loads of time, I don't find it beneficial if someone just comes in for the major competitions and doesn't do any of the training at the other events.
"It's a big process preparing for the major events. So it will be all about how she feels and then timing, and whether it can work out. But no one knows what that's going to be.
"Amelie will be the only one that knows and I don't think right now she does know because it's obviously a pretty life-changing thing when you have a child."
Mauresmo will still be present throughout the rest of the clay-court season and will stay on board until Wimbledon but Bjorkman will now have plenty of time to show he can be the main man, if that is what's required.
The pair worked together over the weekend and will continue to do so until Murray's first match, scheduled for Thursday. So far, the Scot likes what he's seen.
"Jonas is a very calm guy, he's not in your face, but when he talks you listen," the world No3 said. "Sometimes if someone talks all the time then you don't listen to most of the stuff.
"He's got a very nice way about him, he's easy-going. But obviously he was mentally very strong and had a great work ethic as well, so hopefully that can rub off on me and the team as well."
A fortnight on from his wedding to Kim Sears, Murray wore his ring proudly yesterday and said he planned to wear it on a necklace during matches, but laughed off a question about whether being a husband on Tour was going to be a big adjustment.
"We've been together for about nine years so I don't think it'll change much," he said. "But it's nice."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article