In praise of… the new Andy Murray

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/09/in-praise-of-new-andy-murray

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Charmless, truculent, arrogant, boring. In the past, Andy Murray has been called all these and more – some of them even self-descriptions by the Wimbledon champion himself. But we surely need fresh words now to describe Mr Murray. The British tennis player's decision to appoint the Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo as his coach is refreshing. It's not the first time that a woman has coached a male champion; Jimmy Connors was coached by his mother. It is not even a novelty for Mr Murray, who was coached by his own mother, Judy. Yet perhaps that very experience has helped Mr Murray to think outside the testosterone tramlines this time, conscious that he may need advice not just on his backhand slice and his volleying – both Mauresmo specialities as a player – but also on what she called "something different, about emotions and sensitive things". So step forward the new Andy Murray – free spirit, sensitive, self-aware and unprejudiced.