Playing coach-less can quickly become a drain

By Bill Scott May 28, 2006, 14:33 GMT

British player Andy Murray returns the ball to Spanish player Marcel Granollers-Pujol during their first round match of the Conde Godo championships played at Real Club o Tennis of Barcelona, northeastern Spain, on Monday 24 April 2006. EPA/TONI ALBIR

Paris - Spain's Tommy Robredo and British teenager Andy Murray are quickly learning the value of a coach in the gruelling world of professional tennis.

Both are currently feeling their way on the clay without consistent guidance at the French Open.

While Roger Federer exists nicely on a part-time arrangement with Australian guru Tony Roche, the superb self-starting Swiss world number 1 is a special case.

For more pedestrian players, having a mentor on call and on the road can be critical.

Teenaged Murray may be the most high-profile case of a man in search of guidance. Robredo, a solid Spaniard who won the Hamburg Masters title this month, is finding life on his own a lot of trouble as well.

After breaking through last summer on the grass, Murray, the hyped-up hope of the British game hooked up with Mark Petchey, a former player not more than a decade or so older.

The team worked well until this spring, Murray achieving ten wins and eight defeats. But the Scottish player's fiery personality personality and his teenaged belief that he knew best, resulted in a parting of the ways in March after a spectacular outburt.

Since then, the former prodigy has won just two matches from six played. He could find that loss total increased by one as he faces French friend Gael Monfils in the Paris first round.

Suddenly, finding he may not be quite as clever as he imagined, Murray is now looking for guidance.

'I'm looking for a coach who has worked with a Grand Slam winner or who has been number 1 in the world,' he said. 'He needs a lot of experience in working with youngish guys and bringing them through.'

The sometimes brittle Scot said that he wants to get the matter sorted by August, after the annual Wimbledon hysteria dies down. 'I want to find a new coach now who can teach me how to come into the net, how to hit big serves and just complete my game,' said the number 45.

Robredo, ranked seventh, has found the few months since he parted with Argentine Mariano Monchesi a time of trouble.

Taking advice from his former coach father over the phone is only a temporary measure and one that the Spaniard wants to end as soon as possible, if only for his peace of mind.

'I phone him before a match, after a match. I tell him how I've been feeling,' explained Robredo. 'He helps me. I feel that I am accompanied, I feel very calm.'

With his father and a few friends in Paris for the major, Robredo can make do - but not for the long term.

'Before, Mariano was so professional that I didn't do much. At the end of every match he came and looked after my racquets. He would look for people that I could train with. All I had to do was play tennis.'

Robredo got a taste of just how protected he was when he won Hamburg without a coach on call.

'I reached a semi-final, it was midnight and I didn't know what was happening the next day. Here, yesterday, I didn't know who I could train with. When you have a coach who knows how to play tennis, you can hit a few balls with him. Not having a coach is difficult.

'In a way, it's good for me to be alone and to manage things on my own because it gives you peace of mind. But I think I do need somebody,' he said.

'I need somebody, and quickly.'