It is easy to see why Andy Murray likes Ivan Lendl. The Czech speaks with a directness that cuts to the core of an issue, be it the player’s attitude on court or his attitude to the media.
After resuming his partnership with the world No2 at Queen’s – where Murray pleased him no end by winning a record fifth title – he spared some time to share his thoughts about his love of golf, his loathing of technical coaching and his memories of a splendid summer’s afternoon three years ago, when a smile threatened to break his creased visage to celebrate a significant moment of tennis history.
What did he remember of Murray’s momentous victory over Novak Djokovic to become the first British player to win the men’s singles title since Fred Perry 77 years ago?
“How well he played in that final,” was the response stripped of sentiment. “That was great to see. Because that’s what the whole team has been struggling for, for him to do well in the final and he really performed tremendously.”
Lendl, normally quick to leave the workplace, even stayed around for the Champions’ Dinner, which surprised a lot of people, although maybe not Murray.
“I did go, yeah. That was nice – but that’s not why I was here. My job with the rest of the team was to make sure that Andy was prepared the best to get the best chance to win. The thing that stands out most in my mind was the pressure he was under. I would go out on the street and people would be saying: ‘I hope he can do it, I hope he can do it.’ That was the time I realised how different and how much bigger that pressure was.”
So now they are back together; different beasts but still talking the same language. When they split in March 2014 after a painful conversation over dinner in Miami, when Lendl explained he could not commit enough time to the job any more, Murray was devastated. So it was surprising to some that he risked a reunion – although those who were aware they had been in contact for some time were less shocked.
Even when Murray and Amélie Mauresmo were still working closely, the player was talking to his former coach on the phone, as Lendl confirmed. What changes has he seen in him?
“One thing I noticed was that Andy does better in the regular events. We spoke about it. Andy and I have been talking quite a bit the last two years as well – and I noticed that. He said: ‘Yeah, I realise that to give myself the best chance I have to play some [non-major] events and do well.’ I think that makes my job easier because he comes in better prepared.”
If Lendl sounds clinical rather than romantic about the job, it is the sort of cold professionalism Murray responds to. He did well with the more compliant Mauresmo until she walked in May, complaining he was “complex” and “there was nothing more I can do”, although there was no acrimony. Murray is good like that: move on, no hard feelings. This is the perfect fit for both of them. They are laughing again, but remaining fixed on the project: beating Djokovic.
When I put it to the world No1 last week that his chief rival now had a single-minded determination to beat him in a slam again, which was why he brought Lendl back as his coach, Djokovic smiled with all the diplomacy he could muster and said: “I’m flattered to hear that. Ivan is one of the legends of our sport and, of course, he’s been a great rival with my coach Boris [Becker] so it’s interesting.”
This is a delicious scenario, then: Murray and Djokovic duking it out on the final Sunday of the championship again, with their coaches and former rivals looking down from the stands in various stages of agitation – or, in Lendl’s case, appearing as if he’d just been taken out of a cryogenic ice box.
What, we wondered, would he be doing had he not been spirited out of his Floridian paradise?
“I was entered into some golf tournaments, qualifying for the Connecticut Open and a couple of one-day events, that’s all. So I would have been playing golf. It’s very enjoyable. Not just club stuff, state stuff. But stuff like that happens. It’s not the first time I’ve had to pull out of some events.”
That is the other quality in Lendl Murray recognised the moment they met, shortly before they began their partnership at the 2012 Australian Open: his competitiveness. Great players never lose it, and Lendl brings to his golf and his coaching of Murray the spirit that made him such a fierce presence in the 80s, reigning as No1 in the world and winning eight slams.
But, surprisingly perhaps, Lendl does not tinker with Murray’s basic game. He is not there to meddle with the niceties of slicing and top spin and forehands and backhands. For a start, he would find such mundanity boring – and Lendl is probably easily bored.
“I don’t do any technique, zero. I don’t believe in that. At 27 or 29, what you have is what you are going to have. You can groove certain things but changing technique is not where I’m going to go, because a) I don’t believe you should do it at that age and b) I suck at it. Even with the juniors [at his academy in Florida] I ask for two coaches. I requested one specifically to be part of our group and then asked for someone who’s good at it because I suck at it. I can see there is something wrong with your forehand, see what it is – but I have no idea how to fix that.”
So Lendl is taking up with a player whose game should be as close to its best as the sport allows, and he likes what he sees.
“He seems to be in a good place. Everybody on the team is clicking well together. That’s important for Andy, so he can focus on his tennis and not on what is going on somewhere else on the team. It’s very similar to 2012 and 2013. Those teams were good as well. Obviously there is Jamie [Delgado], not Dani [Vallverdu]. But Matt [Little] was part of that team with Jez [Green]. I think everyone is giving Andy the best opportunity to do well.”
And, in his own way, nobody cares more than Old Stoneface.
