Andy Murray says former coach Ivan Lendl has rejoined his team for the start of the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club.
Murray has been without a coach since splitting with Amelie Mauresmo shortly before the French Open last month.
The Scot said: “We had a chat, he messaged me yesterday and said let’s do it.”
Murray won Wimbledon, the US Open and Olympic gold during the two years he spent with Lendl.
This clip is originally from 5 live Sport on the 12th June 2016.
| Summer of tennis on the BBC |
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| Tournament: Aegon Championships, Queen’s Club Dates: 13-19 June |
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Andy Murray has reunited with former coach Ivan Lendl before the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club.
Murray, 29, has been without a coach since splitting with Amelie Mauresmo shortly before the French Open last month.
The Scot won Wimbledon, the US Open and Olympic gold during two years with Lendl from 2012 to 2014.
“Ivan’s single-minded and knows what it takes to win the big events,” Murray said in a statement.
“I had two very successful years working with him. I’m looking forward to Ivan joining the team again and helping me try and reach my goals.”
Lendl, a former world number one and eight-time Grand Slam champion, has spent the last two years working for the United States Tennis Association.
He will work alongside Jamie Delgado, the British former player who joined Murray’s team earlier this year.
Lendl helped guide Murray to victory at the London 2012 Olympics before the Briton won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open later that year.
The Czech-born American then helped Murray end Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion at Wimbledon in 2013.
“I enjoyed working with Andy in the past,” Lendl, 56, added.
“Andy and I have always stayed in contact so it should be fun to be part of his team again.”
Murray is ranked second in the world and has reached both Grand Slam finals in 2016, losing to Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic at the Australian and French Opens.
A four-time champion at Queen’s Club, Murray will begin his campaign against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in round one, with the championships starting on Monday.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Contact was made during the French Open, and the reunion sealed in the past few days – with Lendl due at the Queen’s Club for Murray’s opening match on Tuesday.
Lendl is no fan of living out of a suitcase, but it sounds as if the chance to work with the world’s second best player – who can expect to be in his prime for at least another couple of years – was just too hard to resist.
They are planning to spend up to 20 weeks a year together, with Lendl present at all the Grand Slams, key training weeks and probably the odd Masters Series event too.
Jamie Delgado remains Murray’s full-time coach, but it always made sense to add a Grand Slam champion to the fold. Lendl was the obvious place to start, and after a two-year break from travelling, it sounds as if Murray’s call came at just the right time.
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Swiss puts emphasis on additional match play
“Any match you lose is disappointing. But to lose when you have match point means it was a close one,” said Roger Federer in the wake of his three-set loss to Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals of the Mercedes Cup on Saturday. “We both had our chances throughout. After coming back from 0-5 in the second, it was tough to lose the tie-break.”
Federer won the first set 6-3 and mounted a furious comeback in the second set to force a tie-break. After Thiem saved a match point serving at 5/6, Federer had the match on his racquet at 7/6.
“At 7/6 in the tie-break, I’ve got an 80 per cent chance of winning the point on my first serve and a 50 per cent chance on my second serve, so things were all good for me at that point,” the Swiss noted. Thiem regained the momentum after Federer missed a volley, and went on to close out the match with a break of serve in the deciding set.
“It was a tough match for both of us,” Federer said. “I could have played better at some of the bigger moments. At the same time, Thiem came up with some really good shots when he needed them. It’s just unfortunate. It’s just a matter of working hard and maybe things will go my way next time.”
Federer also underlined the importance of additional match practice. He was making a return to play after missing Roland Garros due to a back injury. It was the Swiss’ second layoff of the year after undergoing knee surgery in January.
“Things went surprisingly well this week. Conditions were very fast, so that’s why you saw a lot of tie-breaks, lots of close matches,” Federer said. “I probably didn’t serve my very best and I need to cut down on some mistakes in my game, but that comes down to not playing a lot.
“I want to be in a position to talk more about my matches, rather than the way that I am training coming back from injury. I’m happy that it is in the past, and I am looking forward to the second half of the season.”
Federer is slated to take part in the Gerry Weber Open, which begins on Monday. He is an eight-time champion at the event and will face Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round.
Brit honoured for achievements on and off the court
Jamie Murray, No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to tennis and charity.
The 30-year-old Dunblane native has been at the top of his game in the past 12 months. The elder Murray teamed up with brother Andy Murray to help Great Britain claim the 2015 Davis Cup. In 2016, Murray secured the Australian Open title alongside Bruno Soares and reached No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings for the first time.
Murray will next take to the court at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club, where he is slated to play doubles with Soares.
Four players will battle on the court and through social media
Tecnifibre has launched its second “Young Guns on the Road Contest.” The 2016 edition of the competition pits four young champions against one another on the court and through social media. At stake? $50,000.
That’s no small change, especially for a young player starting on the pro circuit. “$50,000 – that almost covers a whole season,” said Gregoire Barrere, a 22-year-old Frenchman ranked No. 229 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
Barrere is one of the four “Young Guns” picked by Tecnifibre from among the team of players under contract with the tennis equipment manufacturer to participate in the contest.
The other three players featured will be 22-year-old American Mitchell Krueger, ranked No. 260; 19-year-old Australian Omar Jasika, No. 235 in the Emirates ATP Rankings; and 20-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev, ranked No. 256.
“You can do a lot with that much money: Hire a physio for a few weeks, add someone else to your team…” said Medvedev. “That money would be a huge help this early in my career.”
The winning player will have to show an unrivalled ability to engage and galvanize their fans on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Through tennis, obviously, but that’s not all: These four young men have much more to say to the world.
The winner’s cheque will be presented at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London in November.
| Summer of tennis on the BBC |
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| Tournaments: Queen’s, Eastbourne and Wimbledon Dates: 13 June to 10 July |
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British number four Tara Moore was beaten in the Nottingham Open quarter-finals, losing 6-2 6-4 to Saisai Zheng of China.
Hong Kong-born Moore, 23, was the last British player in the event, having overcome world number 67 Christina McHale 6-2 6-2 to reach the last eight.
But the world number 280 could not take any of four break-point chances against Johanna Konta’s conqueror Zheng.
She also served five double faults as 22-year-old Zheng won in 83 minutes.
Moore revealed she had been hampered by injury and told BBC Sport: “It was there, I could feel it, but I can’t fault Saisai for the way she played, she didn’t give me much of an opportunity.
“Every loss is a disappointment. It’s been a great week and I have to take the positives and look forward to Birmingham next week. I do think I’ve improved a lot of things I needed to and going forward I am really excited about how things can progress.”
Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and unseeded Alison Riske of the United States won two matches each on Saturday to reach Sunday’s final, after Friday’s quarter-finals were washed out.
Pliskova beat Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-2 6-2 in 54 minutes after earlier seeing off Ashleigh Barty of Australia 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (9-7).
Riske took three match points to beat Zheng 6-1 7-5 in her semi-final, after earlier beating Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3 6-3.
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The German has raced to an early lead over Juan Martin del Potro
Philipp Kohlschreiber is one set away from reaching yet another ATP World Tour final in Germany. The No. 7 seed leads wild card Juan Martin del Potro in their semi-final at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, 6-3, 2-2.
Winning 88 per cent of points when he got his first serve in, Kohlschreiber held serve comfortably throughout the set and put consistent pressure on del Potro with his return. The Argentine hadn’t dropped serve all tournament, but lost his serve early in the opening set and saw Kohlschreiber break again at 5-3 to take the opening set.
The players traded service holds in the second set up to 2-2, when the match was suspended due to rain with Kohlschreiber serving at 15/15.
Kohlschreiber is looking to move into the third grass-court final of his career and his first since 2011. Five of his seven career ATP World Tour titles have come in Germany, as well as 10 of his 15 career ATP World Tour finals.
Del Potro aims to reach his first ATP World Tour final since winning in Auckland in January 2014. A win over Kohlschreiber would also put him into the first grass-court final of his career.
The winner of this match will play No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem in Sunday’s final.
| Summer of tennis on the BBC |
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| Tournaments: Queen’s, Eastbourne and Wimbledon Dates: 13 June to 10 July |
| Coverage: Live on BBC TV, radio and online. Click for more details |
Former British number one Laura Robson has earned her first win against a player ranked in the top 100 for nearly three years.
The 22-year-old beat world number 65 Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 6-1 in qualifying for the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.
The Briton’s last victory against a top-100 player came against the Czech Republic’s Klara Koukalova in Beijing in September 2013.
“I didn’t have a lot of confidence going into the match,” admitted Robson.
“I haven’t won a lot recently but I know how well I’ve been playing on the practice court and it was just a matter of translating that into a match.
“I stuck to it pretty well. I’m looking not just to win one match, obviously, so tomorrow is a big one as well and I’ll try to get another win.”
Robson has struggled since a serious wrist injury sidelined her for 17 months.
Currently ranked 308th in the world, Robson reached a career-high 27 in July 2013, but her victory on Saturday was a rare high-point since then.
The first set went with serve until Robson broke the Uzbekistan-born player to claim it.
Robson was broken in the opening game of the next set, but stormed back to break three times en route to an emphatic victory.
The eight-day tournament includes former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska and defending champion Angelique Kerber.
British number one Johanna Konta will face wildcard Tara Moore in the first round. Moore was beaten in the Nottingham Open quarter-finals by China’s Saisa Zheng, on Saturday.
Team wins fifth-career title and first on grass
Mate Pavic and Michael Venus won their fourth tour-level title of the season on Saturday at the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The Croat and Kiwi beat the first-time team of Dominic Inglot and Raven Klaasen 3-6, 6-3 11-9 to capture their fourth title of the season, which leads the ATP World Tour. Pavic/Venus also won titles in Auckland, Montpellier and Marseille earlier this year.
After losing the first set, Pavic/Venus gained their second break of the second set at 4-3 and evened the match the next game. Inglot/Klaasen led 7/5 in the match tie-break, but Pavic/Venus came back to lead 9/7. The Brit and South African, though, made it interesting and levelled the tie-break at 9/9. But Pavic/Venus won the next two points to earn their fifth career tour-level final together and their first on grass.
The champions will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €30,620. Inglot/Klaasen will receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €16,100.
Stuttgart Doubles Final Set
The doubles final at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart is set. New Zealanders Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak knocked off No. 2 seeds Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to their first final of the season. Daniell/Sitak, who secured their first team title at Montpellier last year, won 75 per cent of their first-serve points in the win. They will face Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin in the final on Sunday.