ANDY MURRAY has emerged as a champion of women’s rights since appointing Amelie Mauresmo as coach, but even he can’t envisage being tutored on tennis by his wife Kim.

Mikhail Kukushkin, who the 28-year-old faces in his first round Wimbledon match on Centre Court today, liked working with his female coach so much that he married her.

Kukushkin and Anastasia Kukushkina, who the Kazakh began working with back in 2009, have been an item since 2011 and while their unorthodox arrangement seems to work for the World No.58, Murray has no plans to copy it any time soon.

“I wouldn't have thought so,” said the World No.3, who, like Kukushkina, was a talented tennis player when she was younger.

“She coaches me on a lot of things but not tennis. Kukushkin is a very quiet guy. I say ‘Hi’ to him when I see him, but I have never really spoken to him properly.”

The 27-year-old from Kazakhstan is happy with the arrangement, even if there are problems with male only locker rooms and getting the correct credentials for tournaments.

“There are always problems getting accreditation as a coach for her,” said Kukushkin. “Because the tournament think she’s just my girlfriend and I am doing it for the picture on the Facebook or whatever, and they usually don’t want to give her a coach pass.

“Of course it’s tough to combine the tennis and just usual life but we are together for many years,” he added.

“We are used to it. But sometimes when I practice bad, or have a bad match, or am playing badly, she is really disappointed with me.”

The Scot, who practised yesterday with fellow Brit James Ward, takes his responsibility to the younger generation seriously and he was one of the first to congratulate Liam Broady, the 21-year-old from Stockport, after he reached the Wimbledon second round.

Watched by Leon Smith, the Glaswegian Great Britain Davis Cup captain, the former Junior Wimbledon runner up, who has practised regularly with Murray, fought back from two sets to love down to surprise Marinko Matosevic of Australia 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. “Well done,” the Scot said via Twitter. “Big comeback win.”

While Murray will focus solely on the challenge of Kukushkin, he has never lost a set to Novak Djokovic in two meetings here and said that playing on grass helps neutralise the fearsome flexibility which allows the Serb to slide into shots both on clay and hard courts.

“Novak is a phenomenal mover, he slides a lot on the hard courts and the clay courts obviously, he also slides on the grass but it is a lot harder to move that way,” said the Scot.

“I don’t slide on the grass court so that is something which is an advantage to me. There are a few tactical things too but I don’t want to go into that.”

The Scot'a efforts to reclaim the title he won in 2013 yesterday gained the support of both Tim Henman and John McEnroe.

“He is one of the three or four guys who can win this thing,” said McEnroe. “Three of them – Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy are all in the same half so that makes it a trickier thing for me.

"But his confidence in his health is at an all-time high just now so I give him the edge.”