I HAD TO EASE THE TENSION

Murray: Instead of worrying about the strings on my racket, I went back to basics and just hit tennis balls again

ANDY MURRAY has revealed he has gone “back to basics” with Ivan Lendl.

The world No.1 had not worked with his head coach since the Australian Open – and had lost five of 10 matches heading into the French Open – before reuniting in Paris last week.

The Czech-born American inspired Murray to his first Olympic title and his first two Grand Slams and returned to his team after the French Open last year as the Scot enjoyed a golden summer and reached world No.1.

Now the combination is paying quick dividends again.

And before facing Kei Nishikori in the French Open quarter-finals today, the day before the General Election, Murray said his improved form was all down to a phrase from the John Major playbook.

“It sounds simple but it is not,” said the top seed. “A lot of the time when things are not going well you start over-thinking it.

“You start wanting to try new things on the practice court, changing tensions in your racket. You try all sorts of things to work out what is going wrong.

“And the one thing we did when Ivan got here, we went right back to basics. The drills we were doing were all very basic, pretty simple drills, but we spent a lot of time on the court.

“We hit lots of balls. No time in the gym really. It was just tennis, plain tennis, and literally getting back to doing the basics right. Making a lot of balls, making myself difficult to beat.

“And then once you start to do that and you get through a couple of matches, you start feeling better and your confidence grows. Your game can be right down at the bottom and it can go right up to the top pretty quickly – that has been the case so far this tournament.”

Murray said he has played better in every match here in Paris and has needed two sets fewer than last year to reach the same stage.

“And I came in playing a lot of tennis so the body probably feels a little bit better than it did last year,” he said.

By contrast, No.8 seed Nishikori (below) is struggling with his fitness. He had a wrist injury earlier in the clay-court season and is now carrying a groin problem.

He suffered his first Grand Slam bagel in six years in his five-set win against world No.67 Chung Hyeon in the third round – and received a warning for smashing his racket in frustation. And the Japanese No.1 dropped another set to love to Fernando Verdasco before reaching his country’s record seventh Grand Slam quarter-final.

Nishikori, who beat Murray in five sets in the quarter-final of last year’s US Open, said: “When we play it’s always a battle. For sure, it’s gonna be a tough one.”