Amelie Mauresmo: The Women Behind Pouille’s Semifinal Run at Australian Open 2019

The Briton, Andy Murray had an illustrious career under the guidance of Amelie Mauresmo during the period of 2014 to 2016. Murray was on the pinnacle of his career and he made a historic move by appointing a woman coach in his team. “A lot of people criticised me for working with her and I think so far this week we have shown women can be very good coaches as well”, Murray said after he reached the Australian Open final in 2015. Also, she worked with Marion Bartoli and she guided her during the 2013 Wimbledon, where Bartoli was the eventual champion in London.

The two-time Grand Slam champion, Mauresmo has been working with her compatriot, Lucas Pouille, since December 2018. The Frenchman, Pouille reached the apex of his tennis career as he defeated Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals and reserved his semi-final berth at the Australian Open 2019. Pouille believes that Mauresmo has the right state of mind and she is an all-rounder in tennis. Being a man or woman it really doesn’t matter when it comes to tennis coaching. “She has the right state of mind, she knows everything about tennis. It’s not about being a woman or a man. It doesn’t matter. You just have to know what you’re doing, and she does”, Pouille complimented about his coach during the on-court interview at the Australian Open 2019.

He feels that more woman coaches should be appointed on the ATP and WTA tour. At present, Denis Istomin, Mikhail Kukushkin and Denis Shapovalov all working female coaches, however, all of them are their family members. Pouille who lost his semifinal match against Novak Djokovic at Australian Open 2019 has high regards for his coach, Mauresmo. “I think she’s bringing a lot of confidence to my game, to my personality, to my state of mind,” he waxed lyrical about the Frenchwoman on her coaching skills. “The goal is not to reach the final or the semifinal but to improve my tennis, to put what I work on during the practice in the match. That gives me less pressure. I’m just trying to focus on my game, not on the consequences and the results.”

Just eight per cent of the top 100 WTA women have female coaches and Mauresmo was asked, why aren’t women coaches being appointed as frequently as their male counterparts. She replied, “maybe it’s the fact they have children and then they have to leave the children,” said Mauresmo, who brought her two children with her to the Australian Open 2019. “It’s a job that you have to travel a lot to be able to do it in the proper way, so I think that’s also what makes it pretty difficult.”