General / Ralph Ellis / 21 September 2010 /

If he's to fulfill his undoubted potential and win a Grand Slam, Andy Murray needs to find a coach he can get on with, says Ralph Ellis. Meanwhile, is Laura Robson about to be eclipsed by another British starlet?

The last time I checked, Brad Gilbert was the coach who helped Andre Agassi win six Grand Slams and an Olympic medal in eight golden years from 1994 to 2002. I guess then that he should qualify as "a coach who has worked with great players in the past, just someone with a lot of experience at the top of the game".

That's the criteria which Andy Murray says he's applying as he settles down to the task of finding the right man to help him refocus his career. But Gilbert, of course, shouldn't apply. He's had the job before and it didn't work out.

Murray, stepping back into the public gaze for the benefit of his sponsors a few weeks after his US Open flop, has been laying out for today's Daily Telegraph the difficulty of appointing another coach after sacking Miles Maclagan. "I don't want to rush into a decision," he says. "I want to get the right person, not someone who could only help me for six months. I want someone who could help me for five or six years."

Sadly, the young Scot's record so far suggests he doesn't have the patience to spend that long learning. He's 23 and has got through coaches like QPR go through managers. Somehow it's always seemed to be their fault when he hasn't delivered.
He hit a peak reaching the Australian Open final at the start of the year but will need drastic change to justify his current status as [6.6] third favourite when Melbourne 2011 rolls round. And having dreamed of breaking into the top two, a season end ranking of four is now [1.52] favourite.

But then blaming the coach seems to be in vogue for Britain's young tennis stars. Even Laura Robson has gone for a 'change of direction' after deciding to part company with Dutchman Martijn Bok, who guided her to the Wimbledon junior title in 2008 at the age of 14.

Robson, installed then as Britain's biggest hope to finally find a leading women's player, has made steady but unspectacular progress since and she's also searching for new inspiration. She's about to head off for a series of tournaments in Asia that might just help her finish the season in the top 200, but the key year will come next season when she can play up to 20 senior tournaments and needs to kick on rapidly.

Laura needs to do well in Asia to justify her current price of [1.24] to finish above Britain's other golden girl Heather Watson in the year end rankings. At the moment Watson is 16 places ahead at 211, and while she might not have the high profile brought by Robson's Wimbledon success she has made far more consistent progress.

Watson is a graduate of Nick Bolletieri's Florida academy, and he's one of the names being floated as a potential Murray coach. He gets on well with mum Judy, has the charisma to handle Murray's sometimes moody character, and could just help him develop the more positive game he needs to be more than a nearly man. At 78 he's also wise enough to know that neither he nor Murray has got as long as six years if he wants to win majors. They would need to be in more of a hurry than that. The biggest urgency now for Britain's number one is to pick the right coach and then get on with him.

Five things you might not know about Heather Watson

1. Born May 1992 in Guernsey, her mother Michelle comes from Papua New Guinea and father Ian from Manchester. They met when both were working on cruise ships

2. She started playing tennis aged seven, and was flying on her own to Jersey once a week for coaching.

3. When she moved aged 12 to Florida to join the Nick Bolletieri tennis academy, her dad, who is managing director of Guernsey electricity, insisted on paying the $40,000 a year fees himself.

4. She was preparing to quit tennis and study business at University when she won the US Open juniors singles title in 2009

5. She's into R & B music - favourite artist is Rihanna, but her current number one tune is Keri Hilson's 'I Like'.

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