Female coach? No thanks says Aussie player
Heâs on record again: Marinko Matosevic will never, ever have a female coach.
Not even a straight-sets whipping from Andy Murray at the Australian Open on Wednesday could sway him.
âMy opinion still hasnât changed on that and it wonât be changing,â Matosevic said after his 6-1 6-3 6-2 hammering at the hands of Murray at Melbourne Park.
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And Matosevicâs opinion is a strong one.
The Australian landed squarely in the firing line last year when he first voiced it after Murray hired former womenâs world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo.
âFor me, I couldnât do it since I donât think that highly of the womenâs game,â Matosevic said after a first-round win at Queenâs last June.
âBut, you know, his mum coached him and she did a great job with him so weâll see what happens.
âItâs all equal rights these days. Got to be politically correct.
âSo, yeah, someoneâs got to give it a go. It wonât be me.â
Seven months on and Matosevic still hasnât changed his tune and was happy to explain why after winning just six games against Murray.
âItâs a different sport. I feel like womenâs tennis is a different sport to menâs tennis,â said the world No.81.
Matosevicâs remarks are sure to once again cause a stir.
But they donât bother Murray, with the Scot insisting he was good friends with Matosevic and certainly wasnât trying to prove a point by unceremoniously dumping the Victorian from the Open.
âI was trying to win the match,â Murray said.
âIf he wants to get coached by a man, thatâs absolutely fine. I have absolutely no issue with it at all.
âI still think heâs a good guy. I get on well with him.â
Matosevic maintained his comments last year were blown out of proportion.
âIf you go back and read back to that thing, there was not one bad comment towards Amelie or Andy or anything,â he said.
âThe British tabloids just ran away with it.â
Matosevic has often been at odds with Pat Rafter and he also again challenged the Australian Davis Cup captain on Wednesday, disagreeing with the skipperâs advice to Nick Kyrgios to tone down his on-court antics.
âNot at all,â Matosevic said.
âNickâs an entertainer. Heâs a showman. When heâs playing, he doesnât want to just win. He wants to entertain the masses.
âHe seems to play his best that way. The tweener (shot between his legs) against (Rafael) Nadal (at Wimbledon), who would try that?
âStuff like that; the big second serve, the big game. I love his on-court behaviour.
âHeâs kind of similar to me. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. Iâve got big raps on Nick.â
Fellow Australian James Duckworth joined Matosevic in bowing out of the Open on Wednesday, the wildcard losing his second-round match 6-2 6-3 7-5 to French 24th seed Richard Gasquet.
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