Murray: Ivan helps me get back in the groove
ANDY MURRAY has revealed how he has been taken back to basics by coach Ivan Lendl in a bid to bring out his best tennis as his bid for a first French Open title heats up.
For Murray, who faces Japan’s Kei Nishikori today for a place in the semi-finals at Roland Garros, clarity of thought has been key to his return to form this fortnight, having previously struggled with motivation in the weeks leading up to the event.
The catalyst, it seems, has been the return to his camp here of Lendl, the former world No.1, whose 15-week-a-year commitment as Murray’s coach was the reason for his absence for much of this year so far.
Back in tow, Lendl has kept things simple, Murray said, stopping him from over-thinking why his form deserted him this year, having topped the rankings at the end of 2016 thanks to a stunning run of five straight titles.
“It sounds simple but it is not,” said Murray. “A lot of the time when things are not going well you start over-thinking things.
“You start wanting to try new things on the practice court, changing tensions i n your racquet. You think all sorts of things to work out what is going wrong.”
Murray said Lendl had him doing some of the things he would have done when he was a junior – repetitive drills to get him back in the groove.
“The one thing we did when Ivan got here, we went right back to the basics,” he said.
“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. Then, once you start to do that, you get through a couple of matches, you start feeling better, your confidence grows.
“It can be right down here [gestured down low] and it can go right up here pretty quickly and that has been the case so far this tournament.”
MURRAY’S concentration has been one of the marked improvements in his game this fortnight.
But he has also been keeping in touch with events at home, from the recent terror attacks in Manchester and London to the build-up to tomorrow’s General Election at home.
“I try to follow as much of what’s going on back home as I can,” Murray said. “When something like that [an attack] happens, it doesn’t matter where it is, that gets reported. There was a terrorist attack in Manila a few days ago – maybe doesn’t get as much coverage as stuff in Europe.”
As for the election, Murray said he has followed the debates and has made arrangements for his postal vote to be brought to Paris.
“Me and my wife, we are actually getting ours brought out tomorrow,” he said. “And then it will be taken back.”
Murray will be part of a packed schedule today after heavy rain forced the Novak Djokovic-Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal-Pablo Carreno Busta matches to be held over.
In the two matches that were completed, Timea Bacsinksy beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4 and Jelena Ostapenko beat Caroline Wozniacki 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.