London: Andy Murray’s renewed partnership with Ivan Lendl got off to a winning start on Sunday and the Briton said the American coach was impressed with his battling qualities as he rallied to lift the Queen’s Club trophy for a record fifth time.
Murray, who this month reunited with the man who coached him to a pair of grand slam victories, came from a set and a break down to beat big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3 in the Aegon Championships final, a key Wimbledon warm-up event.
The Scot has not won a major title since parting company with Czech-born Lendl in March 2014 after two successful years together, during which he won the 2012 Olympic gold medal, the 2012 US Open and the 2013 Wimbledon titles.
“Mainly, actually we spoke about (Sunday’s) match but more about next week and planning for Wimbledon, how I’m going to prepare for that, the things that we’re going to be working on,” Murray told British media of the grasscourt season.
“He was definitely happy with this week because of the way that I fought, the way that I played in the big moments and the preparation, getting five matches when I had literally zero preparation for this event. It’s turned out to be a great week.”
Before Sunday’s victory, Murray, who also won the trophy in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015, shared the record of four Queen’s titles with seven other men, including Boris Becker, Roy Emerson and Raonic’s new grasscourt coach John McEnroe.
Murray won’t be resting on his laurels however – and was due to head straight to Wimbledon for a practice session on Monday.
“It’s obviously good preparation to win the event right beforehand, but I still have eight days until my first match at Wimbledon, so there’s time to make things better and there’s also time to mess things up,” he said.
“If I have five rubbish days of practice and don’t put everything into it and concentrate on what I’m trying to do and get better, then I can go into Wimbledon feeling rubbish.
“It’s been great, but I’m aware that I need to stay on it these next seven days. If I do that, then I’ll put myself in a good position.”
Murray does at least plan to spend a day or two with wife Kim and baby Sophia before the Wimbledon whirlwind.
“I’ll take a couple of off-days next week because I need it,” he said.
“Most of the time it’s just being around the family, go for a walk with the dogs, do normal stuff away from the court. I’m looking forward to it.”
