Murray is reunited with Lendl
Murray brings back Lendl in quest to get better of Djokovic
ANDY MURRAY is to be reunited with Ivan Lendl — and he said he wished he had never parted with the most inspirational coach of his career. The 29-year-old Scot announced yesterday that he and Lendl would be hooking up again until the end of Wimbledon and beyond, reforming the partnership that brought him his greatest success. ‘I’ve always wanted to work with Ivan again,’ he said. ‘That’s not something that started recently. It’s been the case for a while. ‘It’s been maybe a longer time apart than I would have liked.’
AS decisions go, Andy Murray reuniting with Ivan Lendl needs little explanation — just a quick glance at honours won by the Scot with and without the iron-minded Czech.
The 29-year-old Scot made contact with his old mentor on Thursday night and by Saturday it was a done deal, with the pair together again for this week’s Aegon Championships at London’s Queen’s Club.
After the consensual exit of Amelie Mauresmo, Murray has reverted to an abrupt change of coaching style, and it is clear that it is one he has been hankering after for some time.
The partnership ended in March 2014 after two-and-a-quarter years, two Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold, with Lendl tiring of the grind of the tour.
But now he appears to have re-committed to around 18 to 20 weeks per year and Murray made it clear why he is so keen to re-engage with his former mentor.
‘He’s a leader, a strong voice and we have had a lot of similar experiences so I can speak to him about that, learn from him, how he dealt with similar situations that I may be going through, or have done in the past,’ he said.
‘He‘s a genuine team player, it’s not just about him. I’m sure he has an ego but it’s certainly not out of control, he works very well with the team. He has strong opinions as well.
‘One of the things that I really like about working with him are his reactions, even if I’ve had a tough loss. I remember when I lost in the semi-final of the Australian Open to Novak (Djokovic) and it was 7-5 in the fifth and final set.
‘I was knackered, and next day he wanted to meet and talk about that match, and he was not going: “Great job, you did really well”. It was: “So what is it we can do to win that match next time, how can we improve on that? I know it’s not the time you want to be speaking about that but I wouldn’t be doing my job otherwise”.
‘I have won matches where maybe you expect a pat on the back and you get the opposite from him. And sometimes I have lost matches and been told: “You know what, you played great”.
‘A lot of coaches, sometimes you win and they tell you: “Oh, great job”, regardless of how you have played and sometimes you lose and it’s: “Oh, that was terrible”. He didn’t see things that way.’
Murray also admitted that tackling the Djokovic problem was a major motivator for bringing in a more heavyweight voice.
‘Obviously, the goal is to try to win the major events and right now Novak holds all four,’ he said. ‘To win major events, you are more than likely going to have to get past him at some stage.’
A slightly sharper mental edge is, undoubtedly, what Lendl brought first time round. He is a genial soul outside of the court but inside its confines there is an authentic hardness.
His hiring was an extremely left field one at the time when it happened at the beginning of 2012. It started a trend that continues today, with Stan Wawrinka having taken on Richard Krajicek and Milos Raonic teaming up with John McEnroe.
Should Murray happen to come across Raonic in this week’s final or at Wimbledon it will be one of the most fascinating battles by proxy ever seen in the game, McEnroe back versus Lendl.
None of their services are likely to come cheap, and it is likely to be costing Murray a five-figure sum per week, plus bonuses.
Will he be able to reprise one of the most remarkable stories of recent years from any sport? When they joined up, Murray was desperately trying to win a Grand Slam, and only managed it when he hired someone who had undergone a similarly agonising wait for his first major.
There is little downside in Murray’s re-employment of Lendl, but at the same time, expectations should be kept under control that he will work the same magic as in his previous spell. The lack of risk lies in the fact that the atmosphere among the rest of Team Murray should not be adversely affected. More uptight characters than Jamie Delgado, who has done an excellent job since effectively taking over from Mauresmo, might take umbrage at someone coming in above them but he is likely to absorb it in the knowledge that he will learn things from Lendl. The others all know the Czech and get on with him well anyway. The potential upside is perhaps limited by the fact that Murray is 29 now and fully formed as a professional, with less to glean than before.
Lendl’s knowledge of the ever-evolving men’s circuit is not as current as it was when the pair last worked together, his involvement in tennis having been restricted to working with some of America’s juniors in the last two years.
Since his departure, Lendl has had overtures from Tomas Berdych and Grigor Dimitrov in terms of coaching, but has resisted doing anything else and has rarely been seen at tour events, with visits to the US and Miami Opens the exception.
An aspect that has changed is that in the past two years he has had both hips replaced, making it easier for him to be back out on court. One thing we are likely to see less of are the self-destructive rants from Murray at his box, although since the departure of Mauresmo there have generally been less of these, with the exception of a few matches in Paris. ‘I enjoyed working with Andy in the past, we have always stayed in contact so it should be fun to be part of his team again,’ said Lendl.