100 of the Most Influential Women in Sport >> Coaches

Amelie Mauresmo, France

Tennis

Considering tennis is such a prominent sport in the fight for gender equality, one area which it is clearly lacking female representation is in coaching. On both the WTA and ATP tours there is a real dearth of female coaches and it is an extremely uncommon sight on the latter tour. That could change for future generations thanks to Amelie Mauresmo’s partnership with Andy Murray, though. The former world No1 made waves when he hired the the two-time Grand Slam champion as a coach back in 2014. It was a move practically unheard of in the upper echelons of the men’s game but it is one which has helped more players recognise the validity of bringing a woman into their teams. And it is one of the reasons why another male player has since hired Mauresmo with her compatriot Lucas Pouille linking up with the Frenchwoman late last year. Less than two months after hiring her, Pouille made his first ever Slam semi-final in Australia and the 25-year-old will hope to reap the rewards of being mentored by one of the most important figures in tennis.

– Mauresmo was named as the first woman to captain France’s Davis Cup team last June but opted instead to work with Lucas Pouille.

– The pair have enjoyed immediate results together with Mauresmo guiding Pouille, who had never previously won a match at the Australian Open, to the 2019 semi-finals.

– Andy Murray hired the former world No1 and two-time Grand Slam winner as coach in 2014, becoming the first leading male player to hire a female coach.

Did you know…

Mauresmo remains a brilliant athlete and decided to run the New York City Marathon again last year, confirming her attendance only a month beforehand. She averaged just under eight minutes a mile, finishing in a time of three hours, 27 minutes and 33 seconds – beating her 2010 mark.

“Andy didn’t care about the gender. Maybe being coached by his mum had something to do with that. He was used to taking advice from a female. Amelie opened the door and maybe other players won’t care one way or the other about the gender.” – Martina Navratilova (Source: The Independent)

Twitter: @AmeMauresmo

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