Former World No. 1 and eight-time Grand Slam champion Ivan Lendl has been appointed as the new full-time coach of World No. 4 Andy Murray. The Scot spoke with Lendl on the phone during his off-season training in Miami and then travelled to meet with the Czech-born American before making his decision.
The 24-year-old Murray is this week making his debut as the top seed at the Brisbane International and will hope to win his first major title in four weeks’ time at the Australian Open, where he has finished runner-up in the past two years.
Explaining his decision to work with the 51-year-old Lendl, who is taking up his first coaching position, Murray said, "I liked what he said and how he felt about my game. I think he has obviously got a lot of experience. I also think he has been through a lot of the same things that I have been through, so I am sure he can help me mentally with certain things. And also just his eye for the game; he obviously understands tennis very well.
"I think when he played he was a very hard-worker," continued Murray. "He is also one of the most successful tennis players ever, so he obviously has a lot of knowledge and information that he can give me and pass on to me. And he was just a very honest guy as well, which is very important because not everybody is like that. A lot of people are maybe too nice sometimes, they just don’t want to upset you or say the wrong thing. But he was very honest, very open and that was important."
In his first three Grand Slam finals, Murray was thwarted by Roger Federer (2008 US Open, 2010 Australian Open) and Novak Djokovic (2011 Australian Open), and he fell to Rafael Nadal in three major semi-finals last season. The Dunblane native explained one of his objectives with Lendl would be to find a way past the Top 3.
"I spoke to him about a lot of the top players and how I am going to beat those players and how to see their weakness and how I can exploit them; I like that. So I am sure he will help me tactically as well."
When questioned on Lendl’s lack of coaching credentials, Murray responded, "The best coaches don’t always make the best players and the best players don’t make the best coaches. So I think that is something that I am sure will be a challenge for Ivan and he seemed quite excited by that as well. He has never coached before and he was saying that he was willing to learn. I am looking forward to it."
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