Coco Gauff: 'Andy Murray is truly an inspiration'

Andy Murray has always been committed to achieving greater equality in the world of tennis: just a few weeks ago, the two-time Wimbledon champion made it known that he was not taking part in the new PTPA created among others from Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, as he said it did not include any female presence.

At the last tournament in Cologne, Andy lost in his first match to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who won in two sets.

Cori Gauff on Andy Murray

The very young Cori Gauff, born in 2004, said of Murray: "There is nothing wrong with asking for a little more variety", referring to an Instagram post by Andy in which the Brit highlighted the almost total absence of people of color, Asians or ethnic minorities on the governing bodies of the Lawn Tennis Association and the All England Club.

"Hearing him speak like this is really an inspiration," continued Gauff, "especially him who is a man and is white. Hearing him say more variety is needed makes you realize what a great ally he is towards you - I love what Andy Murray is doing on and off the pitch.

He is one of the players I most prefer to watch. It is important to have some variety, because there are people from different parts of the world with different backgrounds and they need to be represented. At least for me, a girl, seeing myself represented means a lot."

Murray's last Grand Slam quarter-final dates back to Wimbledon 2017, when he was defeated in the fifth set by American Sam Querrey. Former world number one, Andy has won 46 ATP titles including 14 Masters 1000 trophies, including the 2016 tournament in Rome. As for Gauff, Cori can already boast two round of 16 played at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, as well as a WTA title obtained last year in Linz, Austria.

In the meantime, Andy Murray stopped again due to a physical problem. And hexplained: "I tried to take the pain a bit, but unfortunately it flared up. I've been training for the past few days. I gritted my teeth but after a few points I decided my condition wasn't going to be good enough to play. If in a year I will still be number 100 in the world, will I continue to play? Maybe not. I hope to be able to qualify much higher, consistently win games and challenge myself with the greatest. If I can do it I will play for as long as possible . But if I have a hard time and don't win anything, I won't continue just because I love playing tennis. If I'm no longer convinced I can win a tournament like this in Cologne, it can be an important reason to quit."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2HFUW3w