Andy Murray might still be playing on the Tour but if he wasn’t the former world No.1 has opened up about players he would like to work with.
During a question and answer session at the Hall Fame Open in Newport, the three-time Grand Slam champion was directly asked about which players he would like to coach and why. He named Emma Raducanu as the only player on the WTA Tour he would mentor. Last year at the US Open Raducanu became the first qualifier in history to win a major title after winning 10 matches in a row without dropping a set. However, since then the Brit is yet to reach another Tour final and has been hampered by various physical problems.
On the men’s side, Carlos Alcaraz is somebody who he believes has the potential to win a major in the future. The Spaniard has rocketed up the rankings this year with wins over the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz has already won four ATP titles this season and is currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Race to Turin.
“Female player would be Emma [Raducanu] and male players would be between [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas and Jack Draper,” Murray replied when asked who he would like to coach.
“They work hard, they seem like they love the sport. Alcaraz and Tsitsipas haven’t won a slam yet. They’re obviously still very young and I think they have the potential to do it.”
So far in his career the 35-year-old has won 46 Tour titles and has spent 41 weeks as world No.1. He is the only British man in the open Era to have topped the world rankings and the first to win back-to-back gold medals in singles at the Olympics.
Murray says his experience of life on the Tour is one of the reasons why he would be interested in becoming a coach after his career as a professional comes to an end.
“The biggest lesson that I learned is that it is important to enjoy the heighs but you’re often competing at a tournament a few days later and getting overconfident and things like that. You can easily lose in a couple of days so you need to try and stay level-headed,” he said during an interview with ATP Uncovered.
“You have to learn to deal with those losses in a positive and constructive way. There are many decisions that I would have done differently and that’s one of the reasons why maybe when I finish playing I quite like the idea of being involved in coaching.”
Murray is currently playing in Newport this week where he is seeded sixth in the draw. On Wednesday he secured his place in the quarter-finals after beating Max Purcell 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. He is set to play third seed Alexander Bublik in the last eight.
