Andy Murray reunites with former coach Ivan Lendl
The world number two enjoyed the best moments of his career under the guidance of Lendl, winning Olympic gold and the US Open in 2012 and then Wimbledon the following year.
Andy Murray is reuniting with his former coach Ivan Lendl. The world number two enjoyed the best moments of his career under the guidance of Lendl, winning Olympic gold and the US Open in 2012 and then Wimbledon the following year. Lendl will be with Murray for the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, which starts on Monday. Murray said: "I had two very successful years working with Ivan, he's single-minded and knows what it takes to win the big events. "I'm looking forward to Ivan joining the team again and helping me try and reach my goals."
Murray split from Lendl in March 2014 after the eight-time grand slam champion decided he no longer wanted to spend 20 plus weeks travelling. It was a huge blow for Murray, especially given it came at an uncertain period when the Scot was still recovering from back surgery. Murray replaced Lendl with Amelie Mauresmo in the summer of 2014 and climbed back to number two in the world.
But further grand slam titles have remained elusive and Murray's ground-breaking partnership with Mauresmo ended last month.
The 29-year-old appeared content to work with his assistant coach Jamie Delgado, under whom he reached the French Open final last weekend, losing to Novak Djokovic.
But he had raised the prospect prior to travelling to Paris of reuniting with Lendl and it has now become a reality.
Lendl said: "I enjoyed working with Andy in the past. Andy and I have always stayed in contact so it should be fun to be part of his team again."
Lendl helped Murray improve his game, particularly on the forehand, but crucially also gave him the belief to beat the world's best on the biggest occasions. He defeated Roger Federer to win Olympic gold and then saw off Djokovic in both the US Open and Wimbledon finals. Murray's main motivation for rehiring Lendl is surely to try to help him break the stranglehold of Djokovic, who holds all four grand slam titles after beating Murray in the finals of both the Australian and French Opens. Since splitting from Lendl, Murray has lost all five slam meetings with Djokovic and also failed to beat his other 'big four' rivals Federer and Rafael Nadal over five sets. But the 29-year-old's form on clay, culminating in a first French Open final, shows that his game is in great shape and he will hope Lendl can give him an extra edge at Wimbledon in two weeks' time. Lendl is expected to spend a similar amount of time with Murray as in his first stint but will maintain his role with the United States Tennis Association's player development programme.