Right! This is a bit of a special post on this blog which sees an exciting development in the Andy Murray came as it has been just announced that he will be teaming up again with his former coach, Ivan Lendl.
So what does this mean for Andy's prospects in future grand slams??? Well let's take a look, not only at that but also do a quick summary on his previous performances in the slams since Lendl left Andy's team.
ANDY'S POST LENDL SLAM RESULTS (you might want to skip this bit given it will be quite big!)
Well Lendl left Andy's team in 2014, citing originally that he wanted to take up playing on the men's senior tour again and concentrate on his tennis academy in America. However it was soon revealed that this was just an excuse and the real reason Lendl later revealed was because he had grown tired of the constant travelling and he had felt after Andy won Wimbledon that he had helped Andy achieved his goals to win majors.
2014
Anyway as for Andy's post Lendl results in 2014, Andy reached the semi finals at the French open, where he announced that he would be working with Amelie Mauresmo after his defeat to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. This caused a bit of an outcry in the media as Andy had chosen to go with a female coach but this was something Andy had to continually defend in the media and it later did yield good results as he reached two majors finals with her.
Then after this at Wimbledon, Andy reached the quarter finals where he played superb tennis going into this match in his first four rounds he looked every inch the Wimbledon champion. However...things didn't go so well in the quarter final against Grigor Dimitrov where Andy had a spectacular capitulation and he didn't look right on the court at all and at one point even seemed to mutter something "5 minutes before the match!" as if there was behind the scenes argument within his camp, which later was revealed that Andy had tension between his team members Jez Green and Dani Velvardru.
At the US Open, Andy again managed to reach the quarter finals again where he took on Novak Djokovic, due to his fallen ranking to No.12 in the world he faced his rival at this stage. And unfortunately against despite both men sharing the first two sets, Andy couldn't physically stick with his rival and lost in four sets.
2015
In 2015 however, Andy's fitness after having his back surgery had improved dramatically as he was back to full strength and he made a very impressive run to the Australian open final where again he took on his nemesis, Novak Djokovic. And again Andy came up second best after splitting the first two sets on tiebreaks, Andy couldn't keep his focus and seemingly being duped by Novak's on court behaviour of appearing injured one minute and then super spry the next, which saw him surrender to a bagel in the fourth set and the title chance with it.
At the French Open however, Andy made a stronger charge against Novak Djokovic in their semi final match, which lasted over two days. Andy went two sets to love down but managed to battle his way back into the match and took the next two sets to level proceedings, however his serve went walkabout again in 5th and it saw him lose to his Serbian foe yet again except this time in five sets.
And at Wimbledon, Andy went into the event as the favourite after his very impressive run at Queens club where he won the title for a 4th time, equalling the record held by Boris Becker, John McEnroe and Andy Roddick. Andy then went on a run again into the semis but unfortunately he came up against Roger Federer in red hot form who took Andy to the cleaners and demolished him in straight sets to deny him a chance at the final.
Then at the US Open, Andy made a shock earlier exit than usual in a grand slam as he reached the 4th round and met an in form, Kevin Anderson, the giant South African, who played Andy on his least favourite court there, the Louis Armstrong stadium. And Andy despite fighting back from a two set deficit and taking the 3rd set on a breaker, play went to a 4th set tiebreak, which Anderson dominated to beat Andy for the 2nd time in his career, snapping Andy's 18 consecutive grand slam quarter final record.
2016
Now onto 2016, Andy again looked in great form as he went into the Australian open seeded No.2 and yet again he made a great run into the final to once again play his old foe, Novak. And yet again Andy came undone against the Serb and this time it was in straight sets after Andy dropped the first set with ease, the 2nd and 3rd sets were very close but in the end Andy couldn't push it to a 4th set and he lost out in his 5th Australian open final.
And finally to bring us up to date, Andy's most recent grand slam, the French open saw him reach a milestone in his career as he reached the final there for the first time and by doing so he managed to reach the finals of all four grand slams. And unfortunately once again, despite making a strong start against the Serb by taking the first set, Andy could not find a way past Novak, who seemed to have erased the first set from his memory and started the match afresh and dominated the Scot to win the next three sets to complete his career grand slam and win his first Roland Garros title.
SO WHAT NOW????
Well that is the big question isn't it? With Lendl reunited with Andy what does this mean for his grand slam chances against his old foe??? Well your guess is as good as mine, it certainly can't hurt Andy's chances as Lendl did wonders for Andy's mental game as he finally managed to make his breakthrough in winning two slams with the former World No.1 as his coach. So having Lendl back in Andy's team can only be a big bonus and it hopefully should help Andy bridge the ever widening gap between himself and Novak in the majors especially the Serb now leads 8-2 in their grand slam match head to head.
WILL NOVAK BE NERVOUS????
This is another key question as Novak is currently on top of the world in tennis, he is the undisputed World No.1, he now holds all four majors (all at once too as he has achieved the non-calendar slam) and mentally he is as tough as nails. So will he be nervous at this news? In short, no. From where Novak is right now, he is in such a confident position that any amount of news or threat from his rivals is not going to phase him, especially since he has completed the career slam, he will surely be feeling almost invincible. Novak's fitness, game, defensive ability and all round athletism knows no boundaries and he continues to augment and improve every facet of his game. So I'm sure this news, while it could yet prove significant in threatening Novak's dominant position, it won't intimidate him.
HOW LONG WILL LENDL BE WILLING TO COMMIT TO ANDY????
Again this is all just speculation as the news has just broken and it has just been confirmed that Lendl will work with Andy for up to 20 weeks out of the year with him, which will of course include all four grand slams (so that's 12 weeks if you include the week before each slam) and maybe some of the masters events and also possibly the ATP World Tour Finals. But what we don't know is how long this commitment will last before Lendl will decide to call it a day, it could be two years or maybe only one year, who knows?
Andy has also indicated that he would like to work with Lendl as long as he can but again it is a two way process and Lendl has to be willing to commit for a longer period of time rather than potentially turn around and leave him after only a few months, which would certainly not be beneficial for Andy.
SO WILL LENDL HELP ANDY WIN ANOTHER GRAND SLAM???
Well this really is the key to everything of course, can Lendl help Andy win another major??? It really is hard to say at this stage. Novak certainly won't be too intimidated given his current status in the tennis world, but that's not to say that he shouldn't be cautious. Lendl as I mentioned before had improved Andy's mental game immeasurably and it lead to Andy being able to really hang tough in the crunch moments in the big matches, so from here Lendl can certainly instill that mental toughness again.
The main problem however for Andy and Ivan Lendl is that since their grand slam victories together, Novak has become a much better player and a much better all-rounder on every surface too so this really sees them have to deal with an uphill battle in order to get the best of the World No.1. However it is one battle I still believe Andy can overcome and that he now has Lendl back in his team its one battle he might yet win.
And let's not forget, despite Novak having that current edge, Andy is almost every inch as good a player as Novak is and with the right coach and the right mental attitude, Andy can definitely challenge him seriously in the big matches again. So far since he's only been able to manage at the most two sets against him, and in most of their slam meetings, Andy has only managed one, which is obviously not enough.
And if Andy does go two sets to one down from having taken the first set in a slam like he did against Novak in the French Open final and also as he did against him at the Australian open final three years ago, he needs to find a way to win that 4th set to get back on level terms. And that is something he has to work on with Lendl, finding a way to fight back and win matches from a down position as too often Andy has surrendered or succumbed to the Serb once he has gotten ahead in a match.
So while it remains a mighty tough task, I still think Lendl will help Andy win another major and find a way past his old rival, Novak once again. It may take time again and it might not necessarily happen this year but if Lendl is willing to commit at least another two years to Andy then it should surely see him lift at least one more major title before the two of them are done again.
SUM UP
So that's it for my thoughts on this news, which could potentially yield some great results for Andy and hopefully see him get his side of the scoreboard going more regularly against his rival, Novak Djokovic (as he has managed only two wins over Novak in the last three years!). Will it pan out??? I don't know but let's hope it does.
Anyway so that's it for now and I will be back again on here with my Wimbledon preview, which with this new suddenly got that bit more interesting. Not only that Wimbledon will also be really interesting for another reason this year as there will be four supercoaches at work, with Novak working with Boris Becker, Andy back with Lendl, Milos Raonic working with John McEnroe and last of all, Stan will work with Richard Krajicek (1996 Wimbledon champion) to help him with his grass court game. So it will be a fascinating battle of the supercoaches and let's just see who the best coach will be! :-)
So until the next un its bye for now.
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