DOHA, Qatar—Dumping a coach of Brad Gilbert's quality would not normally be considered a good career move for a young tennis player but Andy Murray is proving that he can manage fine without the renowned American mentor who guided Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to the top of their profession.
The strain had begun to tell in the relationship between Murray and Gilbert, signed up by the Lawn Tennis Association to nurture their most talented youngster, and the Scot acted boldly to bring their occasionally stormy pertnership to an end after business was concluded for 2007.
The split meant all eyes were on Murray in Doha last week as the 20-year-old on the next phase of his tennis life, for which he is building a cluster of advisors to replace the lone and often loud voice of Gilbert.
But questions about whether the decision was misguided were quickly pre-empted as Murray began his campaign at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open with some outstanding performances, capturing a bagel set in each of his first three matches.
Vindicated and confident, he then set about dismantling the formidable game of world No 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals before surviving his toughest encounter against friend Stanislas Wawrinka in Saturday's final. Davydenko confessed to being frustrated at not being able to counter Murray's varied style, while Swiss No 2 Wawrinka, who had beaten Murray in two previous meetings, echoed the words of the top-ranked Russian after losing out 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in a 21/2 hour war of attrition. "Andy was just brilliant in the final set," he said, "and I could not tackle him."
At the helm for Murray's fourth ATP title was Miles Maclagan, a relatively unknown fellow Scot who has unofficially taken over Gilbert's mantle to become Murray's principal adviser.
Maclagan, 33, a former British Davis Cup player, is accompanied by by Louis Cayer and Leon Smith on the tennis front and they are backed up in the new 'Team Murray' by fitness trainers Matt Little and Jez Green along with physio Andy Ireland and agent Patricio Apey.
Zimbabwean-born Maclagan, whose singles record is not much to shout about, made his coaching reputation with the leading doubles pair of Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett and he is considered a "mellow guy" by an appreciative Murray.
Murray plans to introduce a "rotation" policy among his helpers in the hope of keeping them all fresh and enthusiastic. He emphasised that he gets on really well with all of them, not saying the same about Gilbert.
The Doha triumph propelled Murray to Melbourne in buoyant mood and back into the top ten of the world rankings - probably at ninth place. He sees that as crucial because the 12 highest seeds for the Australian Open avoid having to play any of the world's top four in the fourth round.
That observation indicates Murray's confidence – and expectations – going into the first grand slam of the new season. He is already plotting the most comfortable route into the last eight and will then take it from there. "I was unlucky last year in the draw," he reflected. "I had three straight sets victories and then came up against [Rafael] Nadal in the fourth round. At least that can't happen this year until the quarterfinals."
William Johnson writes regularly about tennis, soccer and golf for the Daily Telegraph in London.