WHO WANTS TO COACH MURRAY ?

Apparently, Andy Murray, who some may remember used to be a tennis player, wants to appoint a new coach 'as soon as possible'.

Murray, who was the great white hope of British tennis only a short time ago, has played only 4 matches since his crushing defeat in the final of the Australian Open Chamionship and has lost all of them; I think his last 2 losses have been to qualifiers, ranked so far below him as to be visible only under a microscope.

Murray has had an assortment of coaching arrangements in his career and now seems to want a new one within a matter of days; whether anyone is actually stupid enough to want to be the coach of this increasingly annoying young man is debatable. He was, at one time, a fairly attractive character but he has become more of a pain than anything else. His demeanour on court is, too often, that of a man who has the weight of the world on his shoulders; he has repeatedly shown that he is incapable of winning the most important matches or, more significantly, of putting up a serious fight in them. Having risen, rather fortuitously, to number 2 in the world, he is now back to number 4 and will almost certainly sink to at least 6 once Robin Soderling gains more consistency and Martin del Potro comes back into the equation; close behind them is Thomas Berdych and who knows who else. Bad tempered though he can be, Murray is no McEnroe and, good player though he can be, he has probably already achieved all he ever will. That is not to say that he will never reach another Grand Slam final, but he's very unlikely to ever win one.

Tennis is a solitary sport and every player is responsible for their own coaching arrangements. If Murray wants to appoint a new coach quickly, presumably the only barriers are availability, willingness and money. These are all matters which are under his own control so what's the problem ? Presumably, it's the willingness, which is unsurprising.

I don't write this with any pleasure as I would dearly love to see a British Grand Slam winner; what could be better than Murray winning Wimbledon in the Diamond Jubilee year of 2012 but, unless there is a dramatic, and very unlikely, change in his performances, it ain't going to happen. Murray can do it, but simply appointing a new coach will not make it happen; he has to learn to accept advice; he has to learn to accept defeat and move on; in simple terms, he has to grow up.