Jeremy Chardy's coach has said that he is not daunted by the prospect of locking horns with Andy Murray's coach Ivan Lendl at the Australian Open.
Chardy will challenge the world number three - whom he beat at the Cincinnati Open in August - for a place in the last four in Melbourne tomorrow.
Kerei Abakar, who was coaching junior tennis at a Paris academy until 18 months ago, said that he has plenty of respect for Lendl, who won eight Grand Slams during his playing career.
However, he went on to say that they will enter the match as equals.
"What can I say? I only have big respect for this guy, but I'm not going to feel weaker," said the 27-year-old.
"I will just try to give my maximum strength to Jeremy. But I won't feel inferior to them.
"They are strong. Everybody knows that Andy is a top-four player. We know that Ivan Lendl won many Grand Slams. But I'm going to fight with him. That's it."
The job of mentoring the world number 36 is Abakar's first foray into senior coaching.
Michael Penkman
