ShareThisIvan Lendl doesn't want to say too much about his new tennis venture as Andy Murray's coach.
Not now.
Not yet.
"There's so much pressure on the guy right now, especially from the British (press)," Lendl said this week as he prepared to travel to Australia to mentor Murray for the year's first Grand Slam tournament. "I don't want to say anything that might add to it."
That Murray has sought Lendl's counsel, however, says plenty about the sense of urgency he feels as the 2012 tennis season begins.
At age 24, ranked No. 4 in the ATP World Tour rankings, Murray is still chasing his first Grand Slam singles title -- still chasing the ghost of Fred Perry, the last British man to win a major championship (1936). He has reached three finals, only to lose in straight sets in the past two Australian Opens and at the 2008 U.S. Open.
It was after falling in the semifinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open last year that the fiery Scot called Lendl, an eight-time Grand Slam singles champion.
"He has been through a lot of the same things that I have been through, so I am sure he can help me mentally with certain things," Murray said this week at the Brisbane (Australia) International, his first tournament of the year.
"I spoke to him about a lot of the top players and how I am going to beat those players, and how to see their weakness -- how I can exploit them. So I am sure he will help me very tactically as well."
It appears to be a match made in tennis heaven.
As Lendl so eloquently put it: "To me, this is like 'Groundhog Day.' I've been in this movie."
Roughly a quarter-century ago, Lendl found himself in Murray's role. He had lost his first four Grand Slam finals and was tagged with the dreaded title of "best player never to win a major."
Worse, some called him a "choker."
Then Lendl hired Tony Roche -- former French Open champion, Wimbledon and U.S. Open finalist, and Australian Davis Cup stalwart -- to coach him. The rest is tennis history.
Lendl went on to win three French Open, three U.S. Open and two Australian Open titles. He rose to the No. 1 ranking, which he held for much of the latter half of the 1980s. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2001.
"I was then where Andy is now," Lendl said. "I was 24 going on 25 and I needed something to help make it work. That's when I hired Tony Roche, and it changed my career. I'd like to do the same for Andy. Hopefully, we can win some majors."
Lendl, 51, said he had been approached by players before and considered coaching "many, many times" in recent years. But it wasn't until Murray called that he felt it was the right fit.
"He's a great talent and we have very similar senses of humor, so it's a good match-up," Lendl said. "What excites me most, though, is that we both have an understanding that we need to bring our best all the time if we want to achieve our goals."
With Roche in his corner, Lendl became as mentally tough as anyone in the game, then became one of the game's all-time champions.
Can Lendl instill those same qualities in Murray?
"Let's give this some time and give him some space," Lendl said. "I need to catch up with Andy and see how he wants to handle this -- whether he wants to take the press himself or if he wants me to do it. So I don't want to say too much right now."
But soon, there may be a lot more to talk about -- maybe a tennis sequel to "Groundhog Day."
(Ray McNulty writes for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail him at ray.mcnulty (at)scripps.com.)
