Murray has new vision for progress
ANDY MURRAY has admitted that he had to make dramatic changes to his coaching team so that everyone shared the ‘same vision’ of where his career was going.
The Scot also revealed that he was now utilising a sports psychologist — despite having previously been cynical about the benefits they would bring.
Murray is currently in Perth preparing f or the Australian Open and the 27- year- old is looking to put last season, when he failed to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time since 2009, behind him.
He will do so without his l ong- standing f riend, hitting partner and coach Dani Vallverdu, as well as physical trainer Jez Green, after they went their separate ways last month.
The move to dispense with the duo’s services came as something of a shock despite Murray’s mixed form and came in the wake of his decision t o employ Amelie Mauresmo as head coach last June.
‘ The most i mportant point in any team is that everyone has the same vision, everyone wants t o move forward together, ’ Murray told The Independent yesterday.
‘I feel that’s what I have now. Maybe the last four or five months of last year it wasn’t like that. It’s not as much fun travelling when that’s the case. If everyone isn’t right into it, that isn’t how you want to work.’
Murray, who crashed out of the Hopman Cup along with Heather Watson in Perth despite a 3-0 victory over Australia yesterday, has struggled to reach the heights he found under Ivan Lendl. His former coach could not commit to the timetable Murray required after his triumphs at the US Open and Wimbledon.
At times, Vallverdu took charge — which perhaps paved the way for his taking over as Tomas Berdych’s coach in the wake of his departure from the British No 1’s camp.
‘If you look at last year, I spent only one tournament in the first six months with Ivan, at the Australian Open,’ said Murray. ‘The rest of the time I was with Dani every single week. I didn’t have another coach travel with me at all.
‘So he was the coach responsible f or my training and all my practices at all of the tournaments. Maybe it didn’t go as well as either of us would have liked and that’s why I needed someone else.’
The steely resolve Murray had under Lendl seemed to abandon him in 2014. Now, the introduction of working regularly with a sports psychologist seems to be an acceptance of that.
‘I’ve been working with someone for a number of months now,’ he revealed. ‘I think when it comes to psychology, it has to be something that the player wants and the player buys into.’