Andy Murray said yesterday that the appointment of Gala Leon as Spain's Davis Cup captain had been handled "horribly".
The British No.1 publicly congratulated Leon when she was announced as Carlos Moya's successor in September to become Spain's first female Davis Cup captain. Yet Rafa Nadal's coach and uncle, Toni, said her appointment could create problems "at dressing-room level" because she had "zero relations" with the leading Spanish players.
Murray, who caused a stir when he chose Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo as his coach after he split with Ivan Lendl earlier this year, said he had spoken to various Spanish players about the issue. "It sounds like the way it was handled was done horribly," said the Scot, who will be playing for a sixth successive week at the Paris Masters this week as he tries to secure one of the four remaining berths at the ATP Tour World Finals. "It seems like the [Spanish] Federation and the players weren't getting along before the appointment was made."
He added: "None of the players were consulted about who the captain was going to be.
"They [the players] wanted [Carlos] Moya [the former French Open champion and world No.1] to be the captain, and this year he was the captain. Then the players ended up not playing and not showing up so the federation were like, 'if you aren't going to show up, then we'll pick whoever we want'.
"So it was a bit messy and, regardless [of whether] it [the new captain] was a man or a woman, communication between the players and the federation clearly wasn't there."
Moya quit after five-time champions Spain, fielding a weakened team, were relegated from the elite World Group for the first time in 18 years after a play-off loss in Brazil.
David Ferrer, the Spanish No.2, backed up Murray's version of events. "The decision was too premature, too quick, without consulting the players," he said. "To do things well the best thing is to appoint a captain who has a good feeling [with the players], who knows men's tennis.
"It's not about the fact that Gala Leon is a woman; that is irrelevant. There are [male] players who deserved the job more, who have more experience."
However, if the Spanish players want to pick someone's brains on how to work successfully with a woman, they can turn to Murray. Having missed the closing stages of the 2013 season following back surgery, he has won three titles in the last five weeks to climb to eighth in the world after spending a short spell outside the top 10.
"For me, I'm more than happy to work with a man or a woman, providing there is a relationship there between the two of you when you speak about tennis: that there's an understanding," added Murray. "A similar understanding about the game, the things you need to work on: that's very important. The only way you can gauge that is the way you communicate with that person.
"I don't know how much the Spanish players have communicated with Gala Leon, but in my opinion I'd want to communicate first with whoever I want to work with."
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