Lendl’s right, Murray can win a Slam

IT was Andy Roddick who first revealed that locker room gossip was suggesting Andy Murray was a future Grand Slam champion.

That was two years ago. The American had dropped into the conversation that fellow players had been talking Murray up for some time.

“It was on the grapevine,” Roddick admitted. “There was a certain buzz on the circuit that here was a kid who was going all the way.”

Murray had revealed glimpses of his breathtaking talent ever since he became US Junior champion as a 17-year-old in 2004.

It wasn’t the fact he won, the way he claimed victory made people sit up and take notice. The movement, his speed around the court, his brilliant hands, and the fact that he could think his way to victory and not just hit everything in front of him.

For me it would be pleasing after 51 Wimbledons to see a British winner. Roger Taylor and Tim Henman had gone close before Murray made his mark.

But Fred Perry’s record, he won an open court before him. Nadal, let off the hook, punished him severely. It was one reason why Murray turned to Ivan Lendl (above) to help his coaching team.

Presumably here was the man who knew how to handle pressure, understood mental tension, and could discipline the Scot – too prone at times to wear his heart on his sleeve.

But the signs were there, and this year he has showed more self-control.

But fame does not come easily to a man who has learned to control his emotions to such an extent that he shares with Lendl an immense dislike of public declaration.

“I hate press conferences,” he admits. “I don’t like talking about myself, or revealing my private life.”

And this is the kind of self-control I believe he has been lacking.

Taylor once promised me so much, and we talk about those missed opportunities when he made the last four in 1967, 1970, and 1973.

I thought Tim Henman would get there too but for the fact he was in the Pete Sampras era of invincibility.

In 2001, in a semi-final that stretched over three days because of the rain, he was level with eventual champion Goran Ivanisevic at 2-2 and caved in under the pressure.

So will Murray will find it similarly testing? It remains to be seen how much Lendl has been able to get into his head.

But the man who won eight Slams says: “There is no reason he can’t win a Slam. He has the tools.”

I believe he is right. Murray is the best British player I have seen. It seems impossible that a man who has such talent can continue to be denied.

British players tend to mature later in their careers. Murray is 25. He can only improve and set his own levels that may never be equalled by a home-grown player again.