Andy Murray Flying the Flag for Equality at the Australian Open

Andy Murray's Australian Open final charge under the leadership of Amelie Mauresmo is breaking new ground in sport, proving that gender is not key to success.

The Scot raised plenty of eyebrows when he became the first leading male tennis player to appoint a female coach in June, before investing huge faith in the former women's No. 1 by parting ways with long-term hitting partner Daniel Vallverdu.

Murray was quick to downplay the significance of his former ally being in his opponent’s corner and emphasised his appreciation for Mauresmo after his semi-final 6-7 (6-8) 6-0 6-3 7-5 victory over Tomas Berdych.

As reported by The Guardian, he said:

"

A lot of people criticised me for working with her and I think so far this week, women can be very good coaches as well.

Madison Keys, who reached the semis here and had her best tournament, is also coached by a woman – Lindsay Davenport. I see no reason why that can’t keep moving forward like that in the future.

I’m very thankful for Amelie for doing it. It was, I would say, a brave choice for her to do it and hopefully I can repay her in a few days.

"

It was an ideal litmus test for Murray’s new set-up, with Berdych heading into the affair leading 6-4 in their head-to-head, according to ATP stats, while the Czech was full of confidence after breaking a 17-match losing streak to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.

In so many ways it was the perfect response, with Murray requiring the mental calm to cope with losing a tense first set, whilst finding the right tactics to neutralise the seventh seed's blaze of winners.

Indeed, according to Australian Open Slam Tracker stats, Murray actually ended the match with three more winners than his big-hitting opponent, despite producing six less in the first set.

The Scot’s performances at the season’s first Grand Slam have been a far cry from how he ended last season’s finale, crashing out of the ATP World Tour finals with a humiliating 6-0 6-1 defeat to Roger Federer.

That defeat fuelled further questions as to whether Mauresmo was the right person to lead the 27-year-old, with legend John McEnroe, who was touted as a potential candidate for the role, offering a balanced perspective.

"I would not call it a roaring success,” he said as reported by the Express. “That would be the simplest way of putting it.

“But that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be given more time.”

The often outspoken Virginia Wade was less conducive to the idea following his quarter-final defeat at Wimbledon, as per The Daily Telegraph.

"

It’s hard to read him. Mauresmo was a total shock. I thought they were all fooling around.

I think again he’s maybe trying to mess with everybody. She was a great player, she’s a great person. I think she was a little fragile mentally because she had the capabilities of beating everybody.

She’s laid back; she’s a very nice, mature person. But I can’t work it out at all. You like to try to get behind people’s thinking but I can’t really with this one. You try to see what somebody’s going to offer that player.

"

Marinko Matosevic went a step further, as reported by the Daily Mail, saying: "For me, I couldn't (have a female coach) since I don’t think that highly of the women’s game.”

The world's No. 81 player did little to justify such concerns, going down in straight sets in their second-round meeting.

Murray seems to have thrived on the opportunity to prove his doubters wrong, with a new challenge offered up after reaching his main career goals under former coach Ivan Lendl.

While filling the boots of the Czech legend was always going to prove a difficult task, Murray has found the formula for success to help him reach a first major final since Wimbledon 2013, albeit at the expense of Vallverdu.

While much was made of the match-up with the Venezuelan, as it was with the match-up with Mauresmo, Murray has shown great maturity in moving on from the Lendl break-up.

Consciously or not, the Scot has also has helped to give equality in the sport an invaluable boost, most crucially for making his decision based on character and experience over gender.

It was all the braver given the rare nature of tennis, where elite players are not only held accountable for their performances but for the people they appoint to help them.

If Murray can go on and win Sunday’s final then it will surely not just be his and Mauresmo’s reputation that will immeasurably improve but sport as a whole as a more equal entity.