Time for a career move for Ivan Lendl?

The man's done well. So did his pupil. They have achieved in two years time more than anyone could reasonably expect. Murray broke his grand slam duck last year and this year a 77 years old Wimbledon duck. Now, you feel the boy can walk on his own legs and doesn't need to stay under this kind of close tutorship anymore.

On the other hand, there's a number of  players who might,  just as well, benefit from having Lendl as a coach. Del Potro, for example,  could finally make that little fitness improvements, that would allow him to be more resilient in the long b05 matches. JJ, Lendl countryman Berdych, Dimitrov and Tomic would all have a big chance to rise their professional standards under the guidance of tzar Ivan.

So, why not?

If it's not broken why fix it?

A lot of the success is finding a schedule that suits them. Lendl is not present at every event that Andy plays in and enjoys that flexibility.

Not sure that Ivan taking on a new role with a younger player would benefit him as they would be more needy to his time.

I am just guessing that Lendl, at some stage, might want some new challenges. At the end of the day, he is not the traditional tennis coach who does it for money.

True, but he doesn't strike me as someone that wants to stay in the game long term. He might end up playing at the Open

I'd be surprised if Lendl has any plans to move on any time soon - he has said himself that he thinks there is plenty left to do and they obviously like and mutually respect one another and have worked out a mutually convenient modus operandi.

They've gotten Andy over the Slam/Wimbledon hump - from Lendl's own career he knows how much more work there is to consolidate that. I suspect that he finds the prospect fascinating and is looking forward to seeing if they can do as well as he did for a few years. He apparently doesn't need the money so he's doing it because he gets something he likes back from it, he's deservedly gaining plenty of prestige in tennis from his association with Murray who shows every sign of accumulating a few more slams, he's keeping up with tennis at the very top level, and his life so far has shown him to be a patient man happy to let the results of hard work show themselves in good time. I'd expect Lendl to stay with Murray for as long as the latter remains hungry and hard-working and continues to want Lendl's help in search of slam wins. Why not? Murray is still a pretty interesting challenge for a top coach I'd say.

I'm sure he'll stick around but it would be the perfect time to go. If Andy stays successful Lendl gets the credit, if he doesn't its because Ivan went.

No way to lose for Ivan, unless he stays and Andy doesn't maintain. Then he gets dissed as a fluke.

bogbrush wrote:I'm sure he'll stick around but it would be the perfect time to go. If Andy stays successful Lendl gets the credit, if he doesn't its because Ivan went.

No way to lose for Ivan, unless he stays and Andy doesn't maintain. Then he gets dissed as a fluke.

We agree about his intentions, but "perfect time to go" only applies if Lendl really cares about what other people think of him and is worried that Andy might not push on - I don't think that either applies. He's a guy who commits for the long-term, is well-used to dodgy press, expects Andy to do better, and wants to press on.

If he is seriously calculating about the risk to his reputation should Andy fail to maintain he knows he can leave and say that Andy dropped his work ethic because he was too satisfied with winning Wimbledon once. Given what their respective careers would show at such a juncture, who do you think would be believed if there was a public spat?

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I am just guessing that Lendl, at some stage, might want some new challenges. At the end of the day, he is not the traditional tennis coach who does it for money.

I don't think so those players can afford Lendl, btw he loved the challange with Andy Murray otherwise I don't think so Lendl in general wants to do coaching, this might be his one and only assignment. 

bogbrush wrote:I'm sure he'll stick around but it would be the perfect time to go. If Andy stays successful Lendl gets the credit, if he doesn't its because Ivan went.

No way to lose for Ivan, unless he stays and Andy doesn't maintain. Then he gets dissed as a fluke.

I am not sure about that, if Lendl would have worried about his reputation he wouldn't have taken the task of coaching Andy at 1st place, he wanted to test himself and see whether his idea will work wonders for Andy, and outside that he is the other guy who lost his first 4 finals, so he had some idea how to over come those moments and rightly passed it on to Andy.

With everything going hand in hand between Andy and Ivan, Ivan will leave after Andy made 8 slam wins , and I doubt Andy will win any further. 

I hope they don't part company.  I agree with BB on another thread that Murray needed this strong father figure in his camp who had the stature to tell him to cut out the adolescent behaviour.   Also agree with bb that it is significant that Murray hugged Lendl first and talked about making Ivan proud.  There are still isolated incidents of Murray getting distracted and whiny but they don't overshadow a match now, nor do you feel that he is going to get lost in a mire of self flagellation and team flagellation!

Murray obviously has a great team (sometimes I've wondered if they aren't too great in number) and he has his talent and dedication irrespective of whether Lendl is in his camp or not but I think Lendl's brilliance is in not trying to change too much, of waiting to see how the team operate and so gaining everyone's trust and respect so that the changes he has made were met with acceptance from the off rather than with resistance.

invisiblecoolers wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:I am just guessing that Lendl, at some stage, might want some new challenges. At the end of the day, he is not the traditional tennis coach who does it for money.

I don't think so those players can afford Lendl, btw he loved the challange with Andy Murray otherwise I don't think so Lendl in general wants to do coaching, this might be his one and only assignment. 

IC: I am pretty sure at least Del Potro and Dimitrov would be able to afford Lendl's paychecks.

My point is another: with the USO and Wimbledon wins, lendl/Murray have accomplished very much what was the primary objective of their coaching arrangement. Now I don't think it makes a huge difference for Lendl if Murray wins a couple more or not. it looks like he has already delivered the work for which he was originally engaged,

Coolers, Barry.........

What part of "I'm sure he'll stick around" didn't come through on my post.

My posts said he would stay BUT on other considerations now would be the time to go. The bulk of the post was conditional.

BB - I understood your post, and acknowledged that we agree, you have missed the opening words of my post, which were
 

barrystar wrote:We agree about his intentions, but

I think Lendl see's himself as entering legendary status if he's the coach of Murray, say winning 8 slams

I also think he really enjoys it and it wouldn't work with anyone else - their characters are uniquely similar in lots of ways

barrystar wrote:BB - I understood your post, and acknowledged that we agree, you have missed the opening words of my post, which were
 

barrystar wrote:We agree about his intentions, but

Touché

banbrotam wrote:I think Lendl see's himself as entering legendary status if he's the coach of Murray, say winning 8 slams

I also think he really enjoys it and it wouldn't work with anyone else - their characters are uniquely similar in lots of ways

I don't think you gain "legendary status" by coaching a tennis player, however good you are at the job. Tennis coaches are relatively low profile and less considered, compared for example to football coaches or basketball who are, at the very top often held as real superstars.

Lendl has already gotten to legend status through his amazing career as a tennis player, btw.