Tennis: Murray hails new coach after victory in Brisbane

Andy MURRAY is excited about what the future holds with new coach Ivan Lendl after preparing perfectly for the Australian Open with victory in the Brisbane International.

The British No. 1 cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ukrainian Alexander Dolgopolov in yesterday’s final, in front of the watching Lendl.

The Czech-born American won eight grand slam titles in his illustrious career and has been earmarked as the man to help Murray break through that threshold for the first time.

And the Scot said: “It’s very exciting. He is obviously one of the greatest players ever to play so he should bring a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge.

“He had a great understanding of how to prepare for big events both physically and mentally. We have spent six or seven days together and really enjoyed it. We’ve got on well and hopefully that continues.

“He has a similar sense of humour to me in many respects. He is a very funny guy, he has a lot of great stories from when he was playing. He’s an interesting character. He is very hard-working and is going to give me a great opportunity to play my best tennis this year.”

A major title is the glaring absence from the world No. 4’sCV as he bids to compete with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the top of the game.

He has reached the last two Australian Open finals only to lose to Federer and Djokovic, taking his grand slam final record to 0-3, but feels having Lendl in his corner will help with the pressure on him going into this year’s event.

“I think the advice I will be getting from him will be more in terms of competing at the big events and the pressures that can bring,” Murray continued.

“He knows the feeling if you are playing a grand slam final at seven in the evening, the nerves in the build-up to it, he understands all that stuff.

“When you are preparing for a slam final or semi-final you are not thinking about what is going on back home or what you are saying to the press, you are thinking about the match.”

• BRITISH 19-year-old Heather Watson was knocked out of the Moorilla Hobart International in the first round today by Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-6 (12/10), 3-6, 7-6 (7/2).