Andy Murray has denied suggestions that he and Amelie Mauresmo stopped working together because of his habit of getting angry at his box during play.
After the Madrid Open, Murray announced that he would no longer be coached by Mauresmo. He began working with the former No. 1 a little less than two years ago.
"Me and Amelie have a good relationship," Murray said in his press conference following his five-set win over Radek Stepanek in the first round of the French Open. "To say that the reason that we stopped working together is because of my behavior on the court, that is not true. In Madrid, when we spoke, we didn't discuss that one time."
There were rumors that Mauresmo did not like Murray's on-court behavior, and those rumors intensified when Mauresmo told L'Equipe, "Andy is complex. On court, he can be [the] opposite of what he is in life. It can be confusing."
However, she also said that she could no longer have much impact on his game, and admitted that she couldn’t travel with him for as many weeks as originally agreed.
The two resumed working together in the offseason; they took a break following Wimbledon because the Frenchwoman was pregnant with her first child. In Miami, Mauresmo sat away from the rest of his team while Murray was playing.
Murray also said that the timing of their comments was misleading, and he questioned the characterization of his behavior.
"I get very frustrated, you know, when I'm losing,” Murray said. “...When I'm winning, obviously I'm happier. I don't know if that is—I don't know if that's complex or not. It's actually quite simple, to me, anyway.”
Murray, who grew agitated during his tight first-round encounter with Stepanek, would like to see a more balanced assessment of his competitiveness.
"It’s something that, like I said the other day, I have worked [on],” he said. “[I’ve] continued to try to work on that side of things on the court. Sometimes it can be frustrating for me when it's, I don't know, saying that someone is necessarily complex or looking at the negative things. There is also, for me, some good things as well. [There are] some good attributes that I have on the court, too."