'It was the opposite reaction': Andy Murray shares facing backlash for hiring female coach

Andy Murray opens up about how it was received when he hired a female coach during his playing days. The 38-year-old was one of the most vocal advocates during his playing days for women's rights in sports, in general, and in tennis, in particular.

During his playing days, Murray hired the former women’s world number one Amélie Mauresmo as his coach in 2014. The 45-year-old won multiple Grand Slam titles in her illustrious career and retired from the sport in 2009. The pair worked together for two years. Murray has recently spoken to GQ Magazine, where he revealed that hiring Mauresmo did not go down well with his coaching staff. Murray was of the opinion that it was ‘fascinating’ for him to learn how much resistance he faced after hiring a former world number one just because she was a woman.

"I never used to think about it until I hired a female coach, Amélie Mauresmo,” said Murray. “It didn’t get very well received by the locker room and by my team at the time, which is fascinating because she was ranked No. 1 in the world, and won multiple Grand Slams. Had it been a male ex-player, that would have been an amazing hire, but it was the opposite reaction.”

Murray once pushed back a journalist during a media talk when he did not mention the success achieved by the likes of Serena Williams, despite discussing successful players in tennis during the Open era. He spoke about the incident during the same interview and stated that his response back then was ‘instinctive’ and nothing else.

"Serena Williams had won the most Grand Slams out of anyone, male or female, and Venus had won seven or eight Grand Slams, so it was probably the most successful era in American women’s tennis, but it was almost like that was forgotten. In that moment, it was just instinctive,” he said.