I need Ivan - Andy

16 January 2017 - 10:09 By © The Telegraph
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STAYING POWER: Andy Murray with coach Ivan Lendl during a training session for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, England, last year.
STAYING POWER: Andy Murray with coach Ivan Lendl during a training session for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, England, last year.
Image: JULIAN FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES

On the eve of his first major tournament as top seed, Andy Murray has revealed how essential Ivan Lendl is to his plans of consolidating the world No1 ranking.

Murray - aiming to land his first Australian Open after five runner-up finishes - relies heavily on seven-time Grand Slam champion Lendl, who returned to his support staff for a second spell middle of last year.

In this case, Lendl's own record of staving off the competition for almost three years in the late 1980s is directly relevant to Murray, who is likely to face a renewed challenge now that Novak Djokovic - who has beaten him in four of those final defeats here - is recovering his mojo.

The two are scheduled to clash in the final a fortnight from today.

Murray opened his campaign against little-known Ukrainian Illya Marchenko but will need to keep improving to stay ahead of Djokovic and the rest of the chasing pack.

"I do think it's a mindset thing," said Murray, "because it could be quite easy that once you get to No1 you think, 'Well, actually, I just need to carry on doing exactly what I'm doing'.

"The reality in sport is that things keep moving on. I'll get older, the young guys will continue to improve; Novak and Roger [Federer] and Stan [Wawrinka] and Rafa [Nadal] and all the guys at the top are still going to be wanting to get there [to No1].

"So that's why having someone like Ivan on my team who has been in that position before and knows what that's like has been important. I need to continue to improve.

"I don't think that necessarily means working harder than I have in the past, but just having the mindset that I need to keep getting better.

"Any weaknesses that are in my game, I'll try to get rid of them."

Having endured a horribly stressful fortnight at last year's Australian Open, Murray, by contrast, sounds relaxed and sanguine this year.

What a contrast to 2016, when his wife Kim was only a few weeks away from delivering their first child when he flew out to Melbourne. The stress level then mounted even further when his father-in-law, Nigel Sears - who was coaching Ana Ivanovic at the time - collapsed at courtside and was rushed to hospital.

"There were times where I was thinking: 'I want to go home'," Murray recalled.

"I wanted to be at home for the birth, but then I'm not just going to leave while my father-in-law is lying in hospital.

"It [leaving Australia early] was something that was talked about a lot, especially the second week of the event. It was tough, and certainly not a position I would want to put myself in again: or my wife - or any of my family."

The Murrays' baby daughter, Sophia, is approaching her first birthday and her presence has had a talismanic effect, not only transforming her father's personal life but improving his results too.

"If you'd asked me last year, I certainly would not have been expecting to be coming back to Melbourne as world No1," Murray said.

"Becoming a parent, you never know till it happens to you but I did expect it to be pretty big and it has had a big impact on my career."

Murray will lead a strong British contingent to the tournament.

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