BY Ayyaz Malik

Former grand slam winner and tennis legend Ivan Lendl will be rejoining British tennis player Andy Murray’s coaching team. The Czech-born American coach in his first stint with the 29-year old Scot helped him win the US open, Wimbledon and famously Olympic gold in the London 2012 Olympics.

After this successful period where Murray looked to have removed the ‘choker’ tag, shortly after in 2014 Ivan Lendl opted to split with Andy Murray. The reason at the time for the split was believed to be that the eight time grand slam winner wanted to go back on the pro tour as player.

Reacting to the news that he will be working with Ivan Lendl again, Murray said of the coach: “Ivan is a leader […] He’s very, very experienced”.

The Scot also mentioned that he was looking for Ivan to help him end his record of being beaten eight times in grand slam finals. The Czech-born coach lost 11 grand slam finals when he was a player, compared to his eight wins.
One thing that is fair to say is that with Lendl by his side, Andy Murray was able to get through the mental block and win grand slam finals. Let’s hope that the Ivan Lendl and Andy Murray partnership can win Wimbledon again at the end of this month.

With the news that old nemesis Rafael Nadal will be not playing in this year’s tournament, British fans are likely to be hoping that this will make the road to victory a little easier. One can’t, however, forget about Novak Djokovic, who is after all the defending champion.

Roger Federer also deserves a mention, as a seven times champion of the tournament; although arguably the Swiss player is approaching the ‘twilight’ of his career, the 34-year old’s championship and winning pedigree can’t be underestimated.

Other players such as Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga are dangerous due to the fact both can ‘go under the radar’. British fans will be hoping the news that Ivan Lendl has joined Andy Murray’s coaching team will give them the edge going into one of the biggest events on the tennis calendar.
Wimbledon will begin on 27th June and conclude on 10th July.