Murray turns to Nadal for clay coaching

Tuesday 12 April 2011

INTERVIEW Scot hits with the world No.1 as he tries to break his slump, writes Simon Cambers

Andy Murray may not appoint a full-time coach until after Wimbledon. Picture: Getty

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Simon Cambers

But as he begins his clay-court season at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 event, it seems he can still call on a few favours.

Murray has never been short of practice partners and, having been in Monte Carlo since last Thursday, he should be feeling more comfortable on clay come his first match, against the Czech, Radek Stepanek, scheduled for tomorrow.

But today he will test himself against the best of the lot when he joins forces with Rafael Nadal, the world No.1 and probably the best exponent of clay-court tennis the sport has ever seen.The pair have been friends since they were teenagers and, even if he does not know it, Nadal will surely be a good influence on Murray as he tries to get his game back to its best sooner rather than later.The Scot recently said he has begun to watch videos of his old matches to see where he has been going wrong lately and added that watching players like Nadal was equally beneficial.“I would definitely watch him [Nadal],” Murray said yesterday as he discussed his form, coaching situation and more at the Monte Carlo Country Club. “I think that works well on all the surfaces. You need to watch others to see what others do better.“The one thing that Rafa does very well is move. When he is behind the baseline, he moves diagonally back to the ball so he takes it at the highest point. If you move across the baseline too much, that’s when the bad bounces can make you mishit the ball. You need to make sure that you always take the ball at the highest point. You can get away with half-volleys on hard courts and on grass, but it doesn’t work on clay.”With a tournament in Barcelona to come next week and then back-to-back Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome before the French Open, it seems more and more likely that any full-time coaching appointment will have to wait until after Wimbledon, even if Murray would like it to happen as soon as possible.He is keen to have someone who can offer him 30-35 weeks a year but, having parted ways with Alex Corretja, his part-time coaching consultant, last month, he confirmed yesterday that in the immediate term he will use the experience of coaches Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld through their association with his sponsor, Adidas.“I just want to make sure that I get the right person,” he said. “You don’t want to make a bad decision with two tournaments coming up. I’m very happy with the people I’m working with right now but I would like to find someone else who could help. I’m going to work with Cahill and Groeneveld in Madrid and Rome and the week before the French Open and I’m sure that will help.”Murray had originally planned to skip Monte Carlo in favour of more clay-court practise, but early defeats in Indian Wells and Miami gave him the time he wanted and when he plays Stepanek he will have had a good two weeks to get used to the nuances of the slowest surface on the tour.“I think movement is the thing,” he said. “It’s a surface you need patience to play well on. It takes a bit of time to get used to the sliding, getting used to which shots to hit at the right time. Drop shots do work well on the clay, it’s about deciding the right time to hit them. Shot selection on clay is definitely different than on other surfaces.”And Murray said he had no doubt that it is a surface he can win on. “I’ve had good results on it,” he said. “I made the semis here, quarters at the French and felt like I could play better than that. So I want to try to give myself a shot at doing well. It’s not a part of the season I want to just get through and not worry about the results. I want to try to do well.”

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Murray turns to Nadal for clay coaching

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