![]() ![]() For some players things come very easily, but for some like Amélie you need to build the confidence, like a puzzle.” When she played she had a lot of emotion on court, and she needed to win. According to Rémi Bourrieres of the French magazine Tennis, speaking to the Guardian at the time of her appointment: “She’s very sensitive. Though she posed proudly with her partner on the cover of Paris Match, Mauresmo was not impervious to her critics, a sensitivity that was also reflected in her play. Or as one memorable Daily Telegraph article put it, “Muscular lesbian is a very nice girl, says world No 1”. “Mighty Mauresmo hits form,” read the headlines, “Mauresmo has to shoulder all the pressure”. It led to a period when, for all her prodigious talent, discussion of Mauresmo’s achievements was inevitably filtered through the lens of her private life and muscular physique. Davenport later apologised for her comments. She’s half a man,” sniffed the eventual winner Martina Hingis. Mauresmo had arrived in Melbourne with her female partner, Sylvie Bourdon, and made a public statement during the tournament that she was gay, becoming the first French major sports personality to come out, and one of the first tennis players to do so at the start of her career. ![]() Though Mauresmo claimed to take the remark as a compliment, many felt it was not entirely intended to flatter. It had felt, she said, as if she was playing a man. “You just see this massive pair of shoulders bearing down on you.” “She hits the ball so hard that it’s not like facing any other girl,” said Davenport of the teenage Amélie Mauresmo. Sixteen years ago, almost to the day, the then world No 1 Davenport was expected to cruise through the semi-final at Melbourne when an unseeded and largely unknown 19-year-old Frenchwoman brought her progress to a abrupt halt, with a display of aggressive physicality that stunned observers. Davenport’s delight is all the more notable as she and Mauresmo have a history. “It seems like the door needed to be opened for it to become OK,” Davenport has said, “and obviously Murray was the one who kind of broke that down.” She had “got goosebumps”, she said, when she read that Murray had hired Mauresmo. In the months since, the world No 6, Agnieszka Radwanska, has appointed Martina Navratilova as her coach and the promising American teenager Madison Keys has hired three-times grand slam winner (and mother of four) Lindsay Davenport. But even if he fails to beat the world No 1, it is clear that Mauresmo has already changed the tennis landscape – and not for the first time.Īside from the complete absence of female coaches in men’s tennis, when Murray hired Mauresmo in June 2014 there was only one top 50 player on the women’s tour who was coached by a woman. If Murray can win Sunday’s final against Novak Djokovic, it will establish the Murray-Mauresmo partnership as one of the most remarkable in modern sporting history. The bravery, you will note, had been all hers. It had been a “brave” decision, he agreed, “so hopefully I can repay her in a few days”. Meanwhile, Swiatek – into Saturday’s final – said that while the night slot is not desirable for the players, she understands its appeal.He had been widely criticised for appointing the 35-year-old, the player noted in an on-court interview moments later, but “I think so far this week we’ve shown that women can be very good coaches as well”. Not everyone has taken to the late nights on Court Philippe-Chatrier, with Rafael Nadal preferring matches during the day, while his post-1am victory over Novak Djokovic made it difficult for fans travelling home on Tuesday. And we’re going to talk about it after the tournament.” We tried to move forward and I can see that there are some adjustments to be made. I also think it’s too late, but we tried to modernise the event. “Try to find a better solution to be fair to everyone. I feel that next year in order to be able to be more fair to the women’s players, as well as to both categories actually, it would be good to maybe have the possibility to put two matches or maybe a women’s match plus a doubles match. Mauresmo added: “I feel it’s the fair thing to do for the ticketholders. The night sessions were only introduced at Roland Garros last year and is an opportunity for organisers to generate extra revenue given tickets are sold separately. “Concerning the scheduling, specifically for the night matches, my say was that because we have one match only, the ticket holders, I feel that it’s really tougher to schedule a woman’s match because we have to take into consideration the length, I feel.” ![]()
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