McNamee looks to life in coaching
Paul McNamee is considering a stronger coaching role on the international tennis circuit after helping Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh become her country's first grand slam champion in this year's Wimbledon doubles tournament.
McNamee, in Perth this week promoting his autobiography Game Changer, said he would consider seeking out a world-class male player to coach and is also mentoring a junior player as part of his professorial fellowship at Melbourne's Monash University.
The doubles great revealed his hopes to continue in the sport following his bitter loss to Tennis Australian of management control of Perth's annual Hopman Cup tournament, which will be broadcast live by 7mate in the lead-up to next year's Australian Open.
“I love coaching,” McNamee said. “I really enjoy it and I could take on board a guy, probably. There are a couple of balls in the air and we'll see where they fall, but coaching is really interesting to me.
“It doesn't matter what's happened to me in the last couple of years, I still have a love of tennis and I feel so lucky to have had the career that I've had.
”McNamee admitted he still harboured “raw” emotions over the changes at the Hopman Cup, the event where he played a key role from its foundation in 1988, comparing his departure from the tournament to losing a child.
But, after recently returning to Perth as a guest of honour for a past staff reunion, he hoped to one day feel welcome back at the event.
He said he would never have become the Australian Open boss without his “steep learning curve” at the Hopman Cup, where tennis superstars such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Monica Seles were largely unearthed.
“Not being involved at all in the end was very tough … a particularly tough one,” he said.
“We called it the 'Hopman Family' and it was really special and there's no reason why that can't continue. It wasn't how we thought it would end up, but that's life and life has its twists and turns.
“I've lost some really tough matches as a player, too – like semi-final of the Australian Open singles when I had match point – but you've just got to get on with it. It's left a big hole because it was such a part of all of our lives, but I'd love to see it flourish and I would love to go back to the Hopman Cup one day, feeling really proud to walk in the door and feel we're welcome.
“We love what it's become, but it's still just a little bit raw, that's all.”
McNamee said he felt some satisfaction at playing an “audacious” role in the ultimate building of the Perth Arena, when he commissioned the making of a model stadium after the shock announcement that the Burswood Dome was to be demolished.
He joked that his love for Perth – and his knowledge of it – had developed markedly since the time he once thought 'Burswood Island' was located somewhere out near Rottnest.
It was where his romance with wife Lesley began, where they were married and where their now 18-year-old son Rowan was born.
“I don't know whether I can say it's first home, but it's above second home and I feel so good when I come here,” he said.
“The group of friends we have here, I love it. It's so special to me I can't put into proper words and while I can't explain why, I just don't feel like my relationship with Perth is over.”
McNamee said he started work on his autobiography soon after his 2008 axing as chief executive of the Melbourne Football Club, where he ultimately felt he just “didn't fit in”.
The book covers his memories through both his on-court career and life in the sport's administration.
