Andy Murray calls meeting to discuss finding coach to replace Ivan Lendl

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/08/andy-murray-meeting-new-coach-ivan-lendl

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Andy Murray will meet his whole team on Wednesday to discuss who his next coach should be.

The Wimbledon champion, whose two-year partnership with Ivan Lendl ended last month, is hoping to have someone in place by the French Open. Murray is not due to play a tournament until Madrid early next month, giving him plenty of time to consider who he would like to guide the next phase of his career.

The Scot said: "I'll definitely look at it over the next couple of weeks. I don't plan on playing much tennis for the next week because I haven't had much time off this year. Once you make a decision on who it is you want to approach, they need to be up for doing it and the amount of time it requires.

"I haven't spoken to any coaches yet, I haven't written down a list of people, but I've thought a little bit about it and we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. I'm sitting down with all the guys I work with tomorrow just to chat about things. I haven't wanted to talk about it or discuss it yet because it can be distracting."

Murray must decide whether to go for another high-profile former player like Lendl, whose hiring started a trend that has led Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg to return to the game as coaches. Alternatively he could choose someone with a proven coaching background such as Bob Brett, Paul Annacone or Darren Cahill, with whom he has worked on and off for many years.

Finding the person who is available and willing to commit the amount of time required – something Lendl no longer was – will not be easy, though.

Murray was speaking at the launch of this year's Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, where he will defend his title in June. Last year's triumph, his third on the lawns of West Kensington, preceded his momentous win at Wimbledon. But since that historic day in July, Murray has had more downs than ups, failing to make the final of any tournament.

That is in a large part due to the back surgery he had in September to correct a long-standing problem, and which ruled him out for the rest of 2013. Failure to retain his title in Miami last month led to him dropping to No8 in the world, his lowest ranking since before his first grand slam final, at the US Open in 2008.

Murray is optimistic that he is getting closer to his best but admitted it took him a long time to regain his focus after winning Wimbledon. "Things change almost weekly," he said. "Obviously the few months after Wimbledon were challenging in some ways because I was still trying to realise what had happened.

"It was hard to concentrate on everything else – my training and the tournaments, my focus probably wasn't where it needed to be. Then I had the surgery and that knocked me back physically. The last three months have been trying to build that up again, test my back out as much as possible. I think I'm getting close to where I need to be to come into this period of the year competing in the biggest events."

Murray travelled back to London with the rest of Great Britain's Davis Cup team on Monday after the agonising loss to Italy in Naples. Murray beat Andreas Seppi in singles and teamed up with Colin Fleming to win the doubles but his loss to Fabio Fognini on Sunday proved crucial.

However, the extra clay-court time he has had against Italy and in the previous tie against the USA means he is happy to take a lengthy break from matches. "That changed things," he said. "I was possibly going to play the week before Madrid but, with Davis Cup, I think it was going to be too much. I've played a lot of tennis this year. I haven't been able to do loads of training. If I want to go far over the French Open and Wimbledon period, the seven five-set matches, you need to be in good shape physically and this will be a good time to build it up and also to work on some things."