Jamie Murray joins brother Andy in criticising LTA, saying they have 'under-utilised' coach Louis Cayer
A difficult week for the Lawn Tennis Association continued on Saturday when Jamie Murray – one of only two Britons left in the principal competitions at the Australian Open – complained that the national set-up is not making enough use of his coach and mentor Louis Cayer.
Murray’s comments came only a few days after his brother Andy had criticised the LTA for the fall in participation during his time at the top of the game. They also offered further evidence of the disconnect between the first family of British tennis and the governing body.
“We’re a country who’s desperate to show that we can produce players and have a pathway,” said Murray, after he and partner Bruno Soares had beaten the all-British pairing of Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara. “And you’ve obviously got someone there [Cayer] who knows how to go about it.
“I think they should listen to him more and have him more engaged at the top making decisions, and I don’t think that has been the case over the years. He should be doing that job [high-performance director]. Or he could be in charge of coach education. It feels like a shame that he’s been under-utilised.”
Cayer, who is Canadian, was originally recruited to the British cause by Judy Murray, after she saw him running a practice session at the Monte Carlo Country Club and was struck by his rigour and imagination.
As she wrote in her autobiography, Knowing the Score, she asked Cayer to analyse her elder son’s game, whereupon “He came back … with an amazing number of observations. He seemed to have noticed so many things about Jamie’s game that I hadn’t.”
The LTA then recruited Cayer to help guide the wider group of doubles players, contributing to a boom that has carried seven Britons into the world’s top 55. More recently, he has been asked to help steer England’s new National Academy in support of head coach Nick Cavaday. But his role as “performance advisor” for Loughborough only covers around 50 days’ work a year.
Cayer’s influence is not restricted to doubles players. When Andy Murray wanted to remodel his serve slightly in 2016, he consulted two expert developmental coaches – Cayer and Ben Haran at Reeds School. He went on to win Wimbledon soon afterwards and finish the year as world No. 1.
According to Soares, “He [Cayer] is by far the best coach I’ve worked with. His tennis knowledge is insane. You can see what Jamie’s talking about, every guy that he works with, they improve, no matter what.”
In response, Leon Smith, head of men’s tennis and Davis Cup Captain at the LTA said: “Louis is a world-class coach and a fantastic asset to us. He plays a leading role in how we nurture the next generation of players and coaches and is pivotal to our success. We are also proud in how we support our best doubles players in a unique and innovative way as a federation.
“At the LTA we have an excellent new 10 year performance strategy, developed by our senior performance team. This includes launching two new National Academies in 2019, and Louis will be playing a leading role in delivering one of them in Loughborough. Under Scott’s leadership I’m incredibly confident we have the right people in the right roles and the LTA is heading in the right direction.”
