Andy Murray Cans Brad Gilbert US Coach Could See LTA Buyout
Canon, WTA
Gilbert will be off the
sidelines for a while.
By Matthew Cronin
BG must have left lost his “Triple A” card at home. In yet another
setback for tennis’ most notable coach, Brad Gilbert lost another
high level coaching gig when on Wednesday, the precocious Andy Murray parted
ways with savvy American, who has also coached Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.
It may be time for Gilbert for move further down the alphabet when selecting
his next player, because it appears that all the A’s grew tired of
his personality. At one point this year when asked about Gilbert’s
frequent chattering, Murray said, “sometimes I just tune him out.”
However, on court, Gilbert was able to coax six Slam titles, the Olympic
gold medal and the No. 1 ranking out of Agassi, as well leading Roddick
to his sole Slam title and a brief stint at No. 1.
With Murray, Gilbert was only around for two of the Scot’s three titles,
although the coach must be given a pass for a significant part of 2007,
as Murray busted his wrist and missed nearly four of play. When he returned
in August, Murray was still tentative, but after getting a slew of matches
under his belt, he was abet to reach the Lyon final, win St. Petersburg
and nearly qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai when he reached
the TMS Paris semis and fell to Richard Gasquet. He ended the season with
a career high year-end ranking of No. 11 and broke into the top 10 for the
first time this year.
Gilbert was actually hired by Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association in
July 2006 in what is considered to be the richest contract ever given to
a coach at the tune of some $1.4 million a year. The contract expires next
July and it is probable that a buyout will be arranged in the near future.
After undergoing contract problems with Roddick, Gilbert most assuredly
had his lawyer write an iron clad agreement with the LTA that likely has
strict buyout language in it.
Murray said in a statement that he “will now hire a team of experts
each to fulfill a specified role in the development of my tennis and fitness,”
and pay for them himself. That’s an unusual move for a 20-year-old
without a stellar resume (none of the world’s top 3 have anything
close to a ‘team of experts’ surrounding them), but Murray’s
endorsements have increased and now that he’s the entire face of British
tennis, Murray, along with his mother Judy (who is now an LTA employee),
might be marshal the resources to pull it off.
Before the LTA and Murray agreed to have Gilbert come in, Murray was coached
by Britain’s Mark Petchey.
Known as a master strategist who doesn’t “do grips,” Gilbert
is considered to be a terrific scout and tactician. An upbeat guy with an
over-emphasis on staying positive, Gilbert has also had decent stints as
a motivator, by was said to be too intense and too talkative by the hyper
Roddick, as well as for the more reserved and standoffish Murray.
After he dismissed Gilbert, Roddick said that it, “Got to the point
where we felt it just wasn't productive, the dialogue,” and then later
agreed (with a laugh) that it was more like a 'monologue.'
While the dismissal by the guy he called “junior” is sure to
rankle Gilbert, the 46-year-old Californian has complained about the constant
travel and was none to thrilled to spend most of fall on the road. Gilbert
and his wife, Kim, have three children – Zach, who plays tennis for
UC Berkeley – as well as Julian and Zoe. Gilbert also co-owns a tennis
shop in San Rafael.
Like he did after Roddick let him go, Gilbert may try to move back into
television work for a while before deciding to pick up another player. Gilbert
is not the type of coach to take on a massive project and won’t work
with anyone full time that doesn’t have at least top-10 potential.
He might take hard look at Donald Young, but the 19-year-old’s parents
are deeply involved in their son’s tennis and some coaches have said
they can be difficult to work with. John Isner and Sam Querrey will be listed
by some as possibilities, but they likely don’t have the potential
that Gilbert desires.
Gilbert is fascinated by the games of the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova,
but there are no openings in either camp and it’s doubtful that he
could work with Richard Williams or Yuri Sharapov.
The USTA is sure to take a look at Gilbert for a national coaching position
and should David Cup captain Patrick McEnroe decide to step down after next
year, Gilbert is almost sure to re-apply for the position that he has been
turned down for twice before.
