Andy Murray & Mark Petchey

I heard the news on the weekend that Andy Murray had split from his coach Mark Petchey and it came as quite a shock. It seemed to me that, in football terms, this is like a chairman sacking his manager, despite qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.

Maybe, I'm getting a little over-excited, but my first instinct was to wonder if this was connected to the recent Davis Cup where Murray played despite medical advice to the contrary and ended his doubles game with a well-publicised outburst.

All the news stories cite a simple difference of opinion on how Murray should develop his abilities. Maybe we'll have to wait until Andy Murray or Mark Petchey write their memoirs to get the full story.

The link below offers some interesting opinions on what the differences may be that led to the split and also points out something that occurred to me yesterday - Murray's finest perfomance to date came in San Jose when he beat Roddick in the semi-final and Hewitt in the final , but Petchey was absent.

It will be interesting to see how Murray gets on today as he faces wildcard, Jean-Rene Lisnard (154) from Monaco, in the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Source:
Guardian Unlimited - Murray sacks coach Petchey over difference of tactical opinion