Andy Murray reunites with coach Ivan Lendl ahead of Queen's

The British number one won both his Grand Slams under the tutelage of the eight-time Grand Slam winner

Paul Newman
Queen's Club
Sunday 12 June 2016 20:06 BST
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Andy Murray with Ivan Lendl
Andy Murray with Ivan Lendl

Andy Murray was feeling under the weather for most of last week but the world No 2’s spirits were clearly lifted as he announced the renewal of his coaching partnership with Ivan Lendl. “I’m excited,” Murray said here on the eve of the Aegon Championships. “I think everyone in my team is looking forward to it. We’ve got work to do now and goals to try to achieve. Both of us are very motivated.”

Lendl, who coached Murray for more than two years and guided him to two Grand Slam titles until they parted company in 2014, will start working with the Scot again from Tuesday onwards. In the wake of his defeat to Novak Djokovic in last weekend’s French Open final it could be just the boost Murray needs going into Wimbledon, which starts in a fortnight’s time.

His return follows Murray’s split last month with Amelie Mauresmo, who had coached the world No 2 for the last two years. Lendl will work alongside Jamie Delgado, who joined Murray’s coaching staff after this year’s Australian Open and is travelling with the Scot on a full-time basis.

Murray said he had always wanted to work with Lendl again. “It’s not something that just started this week or last week,” he said. “It’s been the case for a while. It’s been maybe a longer time apart than I would have liked, but it’s good.”

The Scot added: “He’s a leader, a strong voice and has loads of experience. We have also 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 right now, or have done in the past. He’s also 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.”

Lendl, who lives in the United States, said how much he had enjoyed working with Murray in the past. “Andy and I have always stayed in contact so it should be fun to be part of his team again,” he said.

Murray, who took five days off last week following the French Open, said he had kept in contact with Lendl since they last worked together but had approached him about renewing their partnership only last week.

“There was interest there, obviously, from both sides,” Murray said. “Then everything happened unbelievably quickly. I only spoke to him on the phone on Thursday night, which was the first time I'd spoken to him for a few months. Then he chatted to a couple of guys in my team that he'd worked with before, just, I think, to see how I was, how things were going, what my motivation was like. Then I chatted to him, he slept on it and then yesterday he messaged me saying he wants to do it.”

When they parted company in March 2014 Lendl said he wanted to spend more time on other projects. He has since worked with the United States Tennis Association’s development programme, a role he wants to continue at the same time as coaching Murray.

Murray does not expect time to be an issue now and hopes the relationship will be a long-term one. “Normally when you start with coaches you come to an agreement for a year, but for me I would like it to continue for as long possible,” Murray said. “It’s not just a two or three-week thing. It’s a proper coaching arrangement, whether that is 18 or 19 weeks, or 22 weeks or more, in that sort of range.

“It’s important the whole team get on and gel well. Hopefully over the next few weeks that will be the case. I don’t see any problems there. A lot of us have worked together before. A lot of my team have worked with Ivan before. It will be good for Jamie and Ivan to spend some time together as well. Jamie is obviously my full-time coach and is travelling with me for 40 weeks of the year. He has an extremely important role and hopefully he and Ivan will get on very well.”

Murray added: “When we stopped working together before there was no fall-out, no argument, no disagreements. The amount of time that’s required to do the job was tough and it had sort of run its course. And if we were going to spend fewer weeks with each other, you can’t just do 10 or 12 weeks. It doesn’t work really.

“But I think it’s quite different [now]. I always loved working with Ivan and I would have liked to have continued working with him in the past. It’s something I’ve thought about and talked about even over the last few years as well. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to, but a lot goes into coaching and Ivan’s willing to do it now.

“When he agrees to do something, I think he goes in 100 per cent. He’s not just going to do it a little bit. He’s obviously had a lot of offers over the last few years so even just him agreeing to do it gives me a little boost as well.”

Andy Murray said that everyone in the crowd had been fortunate to be there following his French Open defeat

Murray said he was happy that they would reach agreement on a working schedule. “We wouldn’t have agreed to work together if the time wasn’t going to work,” he said. “There are a few things that I’ll be flexible with as well in terms of where I train and where I do my training blocks, to be closer to him to help with that. But I have no problem with that, training in Florida. I’ve spent many training blocks over that way and it’s worked out really, really well for me.

“So the time I don’t see as being an issue and also because of how comfortable I am with Jamie as well. The weeks that Ivan is not there, I’m comfortable with the team that I’m going to have anyway. I think Jamie’s been very good. I’ve enjoyed working with him. I was in a pretty tough place a few months ago and with him we kind of worked our way through it. He’s been a big positive for me this year as well, so I’m less concerned about it having to be loads and loads of weeks. But it has to be enough to make a difference.”

Asked if he thought Lendl would have a particular contribution to make in terms of finding a way past Djokovic, who has so often thwarted Murray at the big events in the recent past, the Scot said: “It’s about developing your game to a place where, when you do come up against the best players, you’re ready to do it. You don’t just play a different way the whole way through the tournament and then try to change your game style in the final.

“That’s why weeks like this are important and all the practice days you have in the build-up to the event are important to get your game in place, practise the correct things. I think that I am on the right track. I think Ivan might be able to help with some things.”

He added: “This part of the season is normally a strong part of the year for me. I do like the conditions here. I’ve played well at Queen’s and Wimbledon throughout the years and I think with the base that I have after the last few months and the confidence I’ve gained from the way that I played on the clay, I’m very happy with my team and now adding Ivan, I’m in a good place going into Wimbledon.”

Murray said that one of the things he liked about Lendl was his strong opinions and willingness to express them, even in the wake of difficult defeats.

“I remember when I lost in the semi-finals of the Aussie Open to Novak 7-5 in the fifth set [in 2012],” Murray said. “It was the first time we had worked together. I was knackered and the next day he wanted to meet and talk about that match. He was not saying ‘great job’ and ‘you did really well’. He said: ‘It was OK, but what is it we can do to win that match next time? How can we improve on that? I know it not the time you want to be speaking about that, but I wouldn’t be doing my job otherwise’.”

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