Wimbledon: Andy Murray's reunion with Ivan Lendl could spell success at SW19

Legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri tells us why he thinks the Czech's return could be just what Murray needs to seal his second Wimbledon title

Murray poses with Lendl after winning the Aegon Championship at Queen's (Getty)

I’ve been in tennis for more than 60 years but the excitement as Wimbledon approaches never diminishes. Holy cow, I can hardly wait for Monday to come. Is Novak Djokovic going to continue on his onslaught towards the first men’s calendar-year Grand Slam for 47 years? Can Roger Federer keep holding back the march of time and make his third Wimbledon final in a row? Will Serena Williams finally equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles?

For all my British friends I’m sure the biggest question of all will be whether Ivan Lendl can help Andy Murray become a Grand Slam champion again. And I believe his return to your man’s side just has to be good news for him.

Murray fascinates me. Boy, he seems to have had more coaches than I’ve had wives – and that’s saying something. Some of those coaches have chosen to leave, but there have been times when Murray has been the one who wanted to show them the way to the backyard.

The very fact that Murray asked Lendl to come back tells you everything about how much he wants to win more Grand Slam titles. Lendl doesn’t take any crap from anyone. Hell, when he puts his mind to something he won’t ease off until he’s achieved it. Even then he won’t sit back. He’ll want to be moving on to the next target.

Murray certainly didn’t opt for the easy life when he asked Lendl back into his corner. First time around I almost got the impression that Lendl scared the s*** out of him. Maybe that’s too harsh. Maybe it would be better to say that Lendl intimidated him. He said to Murray: "Hey boy, you’re still in your goddam diapers. This is what you need to do to win Grand Slam titles."

I think Lendl was just what Murray needed. In Grand Slam terms he turned Murray from a nearly man into a champion. Lendl made him understand that to be a top player you need to make some adjustments. And Murray clearly believes that Lendl is the man who can show him the way forward again.

Why did Lendl agree to go back? I don’t know enough about the fine details of their arrangements to give a definitive answer to that question, but what I do think is that as you get older you have a choice in life. Either you want to lay back and take it easy or you still want to be in there at the heart of the action.

Murray and Lendl embraced after the Scot's 2013 Wimbledon win (Getty)

Lendl had all his triumphs as a player and had also proved himself as a coach with Murray, but there are some people who just can’t sleep on one side. They keep turning over and over. They don’t want to say: ‘That’s it. I’ve done it all.’ I understand that attitude because that’s how I have always approached my work back at the IMG Academy in Florida.

I thought it was so typical of Lendl when he didn’t hang around for the trophy presentation when Murray won at Queen’s Club last weekend. I’m told the reason Lendl wasn’t in his seat at the time was because he had had to answer a call of nature, but his absence would not have surprised me anyway.

Lendl has never been what I would call a socialite. He’s always been a hard-nosed guy for whom it’s all about business. Even if he did have to excuse himself at Queen’s, the fact was that he had done his job and probably didn’t feel the need to hang around.

He’s not in it for the frills and the pleasantries. For him it’s all about winning. That’s what he’s been like in his whole career. As a player, when an opponent went to the net he would think nothing of drilling the ball straight at him, if that was what he considered the best way to win the point. Holy mackerel! Why hit the ball into the open court when you can make sure of taking the point by smacking it straight at the other guy’s goddam head?

It’s now three years since Murray won a Grand Slam title, but I think there have been understandable reasons for that. Lendl’s departure was a blow. Then Murray had to find his way again after back surgery. More than anything, he has had to deal with Novak Djokovic, who in my view is the most complete player in the history of tennis.

Amelie Mauresmo succeeded Lendl. I thought she was a good appointment at that stage of Murray’s career. She brought a softer approach at a time when he needed it.

I think one of the reasons the relationship with Amelie worked for Murray was because his mother had coached him when he was young. She has always played a big part in his tennis life and if she hadn’t coached him in his early days I’m not sure that he would have chosen Mauresmo.

I think Murray’s results while he worked with Mauresmo speak for themselves. She helped him to reach more Grand Slam finals and took him back to No 2 in the world rankings after he had fallen out of the top 10.

Now Murray may well be playing better than he has ever done. There’s just one huge problem though if he’s going to win Wimbledon or any of the other big prizes: how to deal with Djokovic. In Lendl, however, he has a man who might just be able to provide that answer.