adminLONDON.— Andy Murray has parted company with coach Ivan Lendl after a successful two-year partnership that included Murray’s Wimbledon tennis triumph last summer. Lendl helped Murray to an Olympic gold medal in 2012 and the US Open title later the same year, before Murray became the first British player in 77 years to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon.
A statement on the 26-year-old’s website confirmed that the Scot and Lendl have mutually agreed to end their two-year coaching relationship. Murray, who is preparing to defend his title in Miami, says he will take his time before appointing a replacement for Lendl.
Murray said: “I’m eternally grateful to Ivan for all his hard work over the past two years, the most successful of my career so far.
“As a team, we’ve learned a lot and it will definitely be of benefit in the future. I’ll take some time with the team to consider the next steps and how we progress from here.”
Lendl has recently played exhibitions in Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Charlotte and London as well as giving coaching clinics in the Canary Islands. And the eight-time major winner indicated that he is now eager to focus on new projects after achieving huge success with Murray.“Working with Andy over the last two years has been a fantastic experience for me”, said Lendl. “He is a first class guy.
“Having helped him achieve his goal of winning major titles, I feel like it is time for me to concentrate on some of my own projects moving forward including playing more events around the world which I am really enjoying.“I will always be in Andy’s corner and wish him nothing but great success as he too goes into a new phase of his career.”
Murray appointed Lendl as his coach on December 31, 2011 after a number of years searching for his Grand Slam breakthrough working with a number of coaches.
The likes of Leon Smith, Mark Petchey, Brad Gilbert, Miles Maclagan and Alex Corretja had all sat in his corner, but linking up with Lendl saw the Scot finally join the elite of the game.
Like Murray, Lendl lost his first four grand slam finals. He went on to win eight majors.
“He’s made me learn more from the losses than I did before and he’s always been very honest with me and believed in me when other people maybe didn’t,” Murray said of the 54-year-old Czech in the wake of his Wimbledon win.— Sky Sports.
Online Reporter