Andy Murray’s hopes of winning a second US Open might have taken a minor hit during his three hours and 17 minutes struggle to overcome the awkward 34-year-old Italian Paulo Lorenzi, but he faces an altogether different sort of challenge against Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round on Monday.
There is the piquancy of Dani Vallverdu’s presence in the Bulgarian’s box, a slightly weird second edition of Murray’s former training assistant’s journey through the game, after a brief spell with Tomas Berdych. It is not lost on Murray, although he does not see it as an issue.
“It doesn’t really [change the dynamic],” he says. “The first time when I played Berdych after me and Dani stopped working together, it was awkward for sure, because he was one of my best friends and the media were trying to make it out like it was a grudge match.”
That is slightly disingenuous given the vocal part Murray’s now-wife Kim played in ramping up the energy levels on court with an entertaining tirade of expletives directed in Berdych’s direction during his match against the Scot at the Australian Open almost two years ago.
He added: “There was a lot of different emotions going on in that match and I thought it was a bit unfair. I played Berdych a few times since then and had no issues dealing with it. [It] doesn’t change anything now.”
Murray has always admired Vallverdu’s tennis knowledge and despite everything, they are still friends. “He works hard, that’s important. When that’s the case I think it tends to rub off on your player as well. He doesn’t want to take four, five weeks off at a time. He is there all the time and he does a lot of weeks, so you build a strong bond that way.”
And they still see each other socially. “We do go out for dinner. We went out for lunch the first day we got here. We flew together here from Cincinnati. I just don’t talk to him about my tennis, but I didn’t used to talk to him about my tennis before he started coaching me either really.”
Jamie Delgado, whom Murray has known longer than he has known Vallverdu, fills that role now, alongside the coach Ivan Lendl. “He doesn’t necessarily get the credit he deserves,” Murray added. “He works harder than any of the other members of my team. He does 40 weeks a year with me which is way more than anyone else that I work with. He deserves credit for that. It’s not easy to do that, to spend that much time travelling and away from home but he does it.
“He loves tennis, he has a very good understanding of the game and we get on well together. We’ve had good results so far, he helped turn my year around when I was struggling.”
