Their partnership was also temporarily broken when the former women’s world No.1 took a break from coaching Murray after Wimbledon a year ago to give birth to her first child; Jonas Bjorkman, then an assistant on the world No.3’s coaching team, took the reigns.
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After a first-round bye, Murray’s opening match at the Foro Italico will be against Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin on Wednesday.
So Murray has looked confident on clay, and played down difficulties about the timing of the separation ahead of the French Open. “I think having a small kid is a full-time job and being a coach is a full-time job and something has got to give”.
“Ten years [later] we are the two best players in the world, which at that time maybe it seemed like something that will be very challenging for us to achieve, but we both thrived to be at the top and we’ve known each other since we were 12”.
Although Murray failed to add to his tally of Grand Slam titles while working with Mauresmo, he has enjoyed plenty of success during the partnership. He added: “I think it did work”.
“I’m sad about it but it just wasn’t working”, Murray said. “I’m not going on the court sort of a little bit nervous or apprehensive”. For me, the time we spent together was positive.
Murray was quick to point out that wanting to spend more time with family is not only an issue for female coaches. His childhood idol, Andre Agassi, is busy building charter schools around the USA, while the likes of John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova are strong on ideas but reluctant to put in the hours.
“I’ve learned a lot from Amelie over the last two years, both on and off the court”, he said in a statement. You know, Amélie was in Dubai, did a training block with me and agreed to try for another year.
Australian Open champion Kerber won the Stuttgart title on clay this season but faces a tricky start in Rome against either Jelena Jankovic or Eugenie Bouchard.
In March, Murray was forced to deny speculation a rift had developed between the pair in the wake of his third-round defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at the Miami Open, per Sky Sports’Andrew Dickson. “Post-Wimbledon and post the US Open there was going to be periods where we were spending significant time apart”.
“It wasn’t flawless, obviously we would have loved to have won a Grand Slam, but some good things happened as well”. “It took a lot of hard work to get back to a level where I’m competing with the best players again”.
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Menawhile, British No 2 Aljaz Bedene was knocked out in the first round in Rome by Stephane Robert, losing 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (10/8). She will stay in her Fed Cup role, which involves much less of a commitment in terms of time.
