• ATP Tour

Murray wary of regression without full-time coaching

Andy Murray will soon begin a trial period working with both Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Amelie Mauresmo © Getty Images

Enlarge

Andy Murray has expressed fears that his game will regress without full-time coaching in a candid exchange with a fellow Twitter user as he prepares to add former world No.4 Jonas Bjorkman to his support team.

The world No.4 entered into an extended conversation on the social network with a tennis fan who had originally taunted him during the BNP Paribas Open Final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who beat Murray to reach the final.

Electing to engage with @HomeboyHotel, who advised Murray to learn some lessons from the "big boys" - and has heard from Murray in the past - the former Wimbledon and US Open champion replied: "There is nothing wrong with strong opinions at all... But it's strange to have such strong opinions [while] knowing little about the subject you are discussing."

Murray defended coach Amelie Mauresmo, criticised by the user in the past for being a less authoritative voice in the Scot's camp following his partnership with Ivan Lendl, which brought him two grand slams and an Olympic gold medal.

@HomeboyHotel it's nothing to do with that... You have a problem with amelie and blame alot on her but you have no idea about the work we do

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2015

However, when asked where he needed to "step it up" and beat the likes of Djokovic, who has beaten him in nine of their past 10 encounters including January's Australian Open final, and Federer, who subjected Murray to the 6-0 6-1 defeat that ended his season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Murray admitted that he had "regressed" during February, when Mauresemo could not travel with him.

@HomeboyHotel I need to consistently find how to play at that level and getting a coach to help me through the whole year will be big plus

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2015

@HomeboyHotel in all of February I had no coach around me to work on things I feel my game regressed slightly in that month

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2015

Murray announced shortly before the BNP Paribas Open that Bjorkman will soon join his team on a trial basis to work alongside Mauresmo, whose commitments as French Fed Cup captain prevented her from working with the 27-year-old after his fourth Australian Open final defeat.

@HomeboyHotel not having a coach around for 5 weeks makes it hard to work on things for me... Not everyone is the same though

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2015

Murray also conceded that his previous strategy of focusing solely on the grand slams needed to be reconsidered, but insisted his game was in a good place after a difficult 2014 season.

@HomeboyHotel I am number 2 in the race right now and just had my best run at Indian wells since 2009...its not all bad news

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2015

Murray will face Donald Young in the second round of the Miami Open, the year's second Masters 1000 event, having beaten the American in convincing fashion during Great Britain's Davis Cup victory against the United States in Glasgow earlier this month.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd