Murray boosted by Lendl return

 

Originally published on: 05/11/12 00:00

The 52-year-old Czech, who helped the world No.3 clinch his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in New York in September, is a five-time winner of the year-end championships and Murray believes his coach’s presence is important as he bids to improve on his semi-final best in London.

“I always enjoy having him around,” said the Scot of the eight-time Grand Slam champion. “He’s been a great asset to me and all the guys that I work with. He’s very easy to work with and he’s helped me at the big events this year. He’s helped me come back from some tough losses and finish the year in the Slams very well, which was nice.

"It’s nice to have him around and I hope we can have a good tournament.”

Murray has risen to the occasion on home soil in 2012, reaching the Wimbledon final and winning Olympic Gold at the All England Club three weeks later. Though he has progressed from the round-robin stage just once in his three previous appearances in North Greenwich, Murray insists he is coming into the O2 event more relaxed than ever before.

“I feel a little bit more relaxed this year than I have done in previous years because I managed to win the US Open, but yeh, there’s going to be pressure on me here to play well,” admitted Murray, who has struggled to close out matches in recent tournaments in Tokyo, Shanghai and Paris. “The only thing that I can guarantee is that I’ll give 110% on the court and fight as hard as I can till the end of all of the matches and see where that gets me.”

Murray kicks off this year’s tournament against Tomas Berdych, having lost their only previous indoor meeting in Paris last year, in the afternoon session on Monday.

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