Andy Murray has begun practicing with Jonas Bjorkman, who will coach the world No. 3 while Amelie Mauresmo is out during her pregnancy. Mauresmo is still hitting with Murray, but will stop coaching after Wimbledon; she is due to give birth to her first child in August.
Murray, who will play a clay-court tournament in Munich this week, just began hitting with Bjorkman over the past few days.
“I was obviously looking for someone to help anyway, but then it became maybe more urgent and maybe a bigger job,” Murray told the *Independent*. “It was quite tricky for me. I was thinking: ‘What if I wait six or seven weeks and then things don’t work out with Jonas, because I do really need to find someone?’ It wasn’t until I started a few weeks later to try to plan the year and plan the time with Jonas that this actually became a bit more urgent.”
Murray has been practicing in Barcelona with both Mauresmo and Bjorkman, and sees potential with the new arrangement.
“It was good,” Murray said. “[Jonas] a very calm guy. He’s not in your face. Sometimes if someone talks all the time you don’t listen to most of the stuff, but when he talks you listen to him. He’s got a very nice way about him. He’s easy-going. But obviously he was mentally very strong and had a great work ethic as well. Hopefully that can rub off on me and the team.
“I see him as being a good fit personality-wise, but you don’t really get the whole package until you’re maybe playing matches and there’s a bit more pressure and stress and you see how everyone reacts in those environments. But he obviously has a lot of experience.”