Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl have celebrated a very fruitful partnership after the Czech returned to the Scot’s camp at the start of the grass court season. The world number two captured a record fifth title at The Queen’s Club and won his second Wimbledon title with a straight sets victory over Milos Raonic.
Murray's best moments have come while working with the Czech
The timing of Murray’s success is no coincidence as it is no secret that the world number two plays his best tennis when under the eight-time Grand Slam champion's watchful eye. Their original partnership from 2012-2014 brought the British number one his maiden slam title at the US Open in 2012, Olympic Gold at London 2012 and what was at the time the pinnacle of his career, the Wimbledon title in 2013.
Just one month back in the job and Murray has secured his third Grand Slam title, more than making up for the heartache which the Scot has suffered in his previous three Grand Slam finals without Lendl in his corner (Australian Open 2015, 2016, & French Open 2016).
Constant improvement is essential to continued success
Speaking to Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster, RTE, Lendl said that constantly improving as a player is mandatory if you do not want to fall behind others. "Every player is improving all the time because if you're not improving you get left behind so I see improvement in his all-around game. As people get older they mature as well, even though some people would argue that I haven't, but Andy has”, the Czech said.
Lendl believes Murray can reach number one
Having rejoined the team in early June, the Czech is also very eager to continue to coach Murray and believes that he has what it takes to defeat Novak Djokovic and become world number one. Lendl said, “Their matches have been very close. It was always about a couple of points. Here (at Wimbledon), Andy played very good matches, his win against Tsonga was unbelievable, and he is very focused. For me it's important to have such a player. Can he win other Grand Slam titles in the future? I don't say how many but we will try our best. His goal is to win the maximum number of matches.”
Prior to Wimbledon, the gap between the world’s top two players was 8,035 points, but with the latest Emirates ATP Rankings being released on Monday 11th July, the gap has significantly decreased to 4,845 points. Granted, this is still a huge gap and mountain to climb for the British number one, but a target to aspire to achieve. Lendl wants to be part of the team which helps Murray achieve this goal 'The first thing I have to say is that today's (Wimbledon win) achievement is great for Andy, and as for me, I will do everything possible so that he does it.”