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Friday, April 8, 2011

Andy Murray Confirms New Temporary Coaching Arrangement

Andy Murray will turn to the likes of Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld on a part-time basis as he continues to search for a full-time coach.


The Briton, who split with Alex Corretja last month, will temporarily use the coaches involved in sponsor Adidas's player development programme.

"It's not the fix to what I'm looking for," said the 23-year-old.
"But short-term, while I'm looking for the right person, there will be people there with experience that can help."

Murray added: "They have some great people working within it, they're around a lot of the tournaments."

Murray, who was speaking at London's Queen's Club as he confirmed his place in this year's Aegon Championships, will be able to call upon Cahill, who is Andre Agassi's former coach, Groeneveld, who has worked with Greg Rusedski and Ana Ivanovic among others, and Gil Reyes, Agassi's former fitness coach.

However, there are limitations in place as the coaches involved work with numerous players and are not allowed to help one player against another within the programme. In addition, Cahill has considerable commitments with broadcaster ESPN.

With that in mind, Murray's target remains a full-time replacement for Corretja, who had worked with the Scot on an ad-hoc basis since April 2008, during which time he reached three Grand Slam finals and won six Masters Series events.

And Murray stressed it must be someone who is willing to commit for up to 35 weeks of the year.

"I've spoken to a few people and I've obviously thought about it quite a lot," said Murray. "I would like to do it as soon as possible but you need to find the right person.

"People think it's an easy thing to do but it's really not. There's not that many people with a lot of experience that are willing to give up 30, 35 weeks of the year travelling and come to where you're training.

"There might have to be a bit of sacrifice on my part to go and train wherever the coach is, to make it a bit easier for them.

"[Roger] Federer with [Paul] Annacone probably do 20 to 25 weeks, [Rafael] Nadal's uncle [Toni Nadal] doesn't travel to all of the events with him, [Novak] Djokovic has someone [Marian Vajda] who's there pretty much all the time.

"But there's not too many coaches who are willing to give you 35 weeks, so it might take a bit of time.

"Obviously Sven and Darren have loads of experience - Darren on the men's tour and Sven on both - and I've known them for a long time and get on with both of them. I'm sure either one of them could help."

Murray has failed to win a single set in the three matches he has played since losing the Australian Open final against Djokovic in January but results elsewhere meant he actually rose one place to fourth in the world rankings this week.

"It's a 12-month rankings system so I've obviously done great the other nine months, because I haven't won a match for three months," he said.

"The end of last year and the period during Wimbledon was obviously very, very good and I actually don't have many points to defend until Wimbledon either beacuse I didn't do that well on the clay."

Murray has decided to accept a wildcard for next week's Monte Carlo Masters, which signals the beginning of his clay-court season and will feature Nadal, Djokovic and Federer in a strong field. But the Briton is optimistic he can improve on last year's first-round exit.

"I'm playing well in practice so I'm not panicking that I'm never going to play well again," he said.

"I'm working hard and getting myself in good shape and it will come. It might not happen next week, it might not happen the next couple of weeks, but it'll come and I'm not worried about that."

Sri Lanka minister pledges swift changes to cricket


The sports minister in Sri Lanka has pledged to rejuvenate the game of cricket in Sri Lanka after the defeat by India in the World Cup final.

"We have to begin a new journey, new approach in the game in the near future," Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

He was commenting after the series of resignations from captain Kumar Sangakkara, his deputy Mahela Jayawardena and the select committee chaired by Aravinda de Silva.

The minister said the changes are needed, after the resignations, to prepare for the upcoming tour of England and then for the Twenty20 World Cup to be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2012.

"We expect to appoint the new captain, vice-captain as well as the select committee within the next week," he said.

According to sports regulations, the minister cannot appoint the captain or the vice-captain. They are picked by the select committee, which is appointed by the minister.

"We hope to begin a new chapter in the game as soon as possible," he explained.

A crisis brewed in Sri Lanka cricket after the unexpected departure of the skipper, vice-captain and the select committee.

Addressing media on Tuesday, Kumar Sangakkara insisted it was decision taken prior to the tournament.

And analysts said it is customary for the vice-captain to resign after the departure of his skipper paving the way for the selectors to appoint a new team.

Sri Lanka cricket fans and certain media have accused the government of political interference, an accusation categorically denied by the minister.

"If there have been political interference, Sanath Jayasuriya should have been the captain of the World cup team," Minister Aluthgamage said.

Two members of the 1996 World Cup winning team, Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas, were left out of the squad having been initially selected for the 30-member provisional team.

Sanath Jayasuriya is a member of parliament representing the ruling party in his hometown, Matara.

"This is a propaganda carried out by the opposition to sling mud at the government," added Aluthgamage.

The minister also commented that no decision has been taken to replace the cricket Interim Committee at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), for the moment, despite serious accusations of mismanagement and financial irregularities.

Commenting on the World Cup ticket sales controversy, "a certain group in Colombo," he said, has systematically bought the cheap tickets and resold them for a higher price, but the SLC should not be made responsible for the racket.

"We went to India to watch the World Cup final and when you compare the ticket prices in India, we can be satisfied that Sri Lanka did this in a very fair manner."

Source: BBC News

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