Murray, Lendl ending 2-year collaboration

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Murray, Lendl ending 2-year collaboration

Published: 20 Mar. 2014, 20:53

Following a fruitful two-year relationship, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has parted ways with coach Ivan Lendl - the man who turned him from a four-time Grand Slam runner-up into a two-time major champion. Murray and Lendl announced their decision on the British player’s blog Wednesday, a few days after Murray lost in the fourth round at Indian Wells.

“I’m eternally grateful to Ivan for all his hard work over the past two years, the most successful of my career so far,’’ said Murray, who returned from back surgery this season.” 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.’’

With Lendl, Murray won Olympic gold in London in 2012 and the U.S. Open title later the same year. In 2013, he became the first British man to triumph at Wimbledon in 77 years.

Before winning the U.S. Open, Murray was 0-4 in Grand Slam finals. Only one other man in the Open era, which began in 1968, lost his first four major titles matches: Lendl. The Czech-born baseline player then went on to win eight Grand Slam singles titles during a 17-year career, spending 270 weeks at No. 1 in the world rankings.

AP