Last Updated on October 6, 2022
Only Tennis player in history to successfully defend a Gold Medal at consecutive Olympic Games, player that holds the most Queen’s Club Championships and one of the best on the Tour is Scottish, Andy Murray.
Andrew Barron Murray was born on 15th May 1987 in Glasgow, Scotland. His father is William Murray and his mother Judy Murray originally coached him alongside his older brother Jamie who is also a pro tennis player playing on the doubles circuit. Andy began playing tennis at the age of three when his mother took him to play on the local courts, at age five played in his first competitive tournament and by the age of eight he was competing in the Central District Tennis League. At young age he also was talented for football and at 15, he was asked to train with Rangers Football Club at their School of Excellence, but he declined and decided to focus on his tennis career. It turned out to be a right decision as later he became part of The Big Four, the group of players who dominated men’s tennis during the 2010s.
Andy is all-court player who is generally regarded as having one of the best and most consistent two-handed backhands on the Tour. He is a national hero in Great Britain for reestablishing the country in men’s tennis since the early 20th century. He is a football fan of Arsenal and Hibernian, and his tennis idol is Andre Agassi.
Who Is Andy Murray’s Current Coach?
In early March 2022, Andy announced he was reuniting with his former coach that guided him to great success on the Tour, one of the live legends of this sport, Ivan Lendl.
Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl was born on 7th March 1960 in Ostrava, Czech Republic and is former professional tennis player regarded as one of the greatest of all time. He is also known as the “Father of Modern Tennis”, pioneered a new style of hit hard forehand with a heavy topspin and is cited as a primary influence in the new common playing style of aggressive baseline power tennis. During his playing career Ivan won 94 singles titles out of which eight Grand Slams. He was the first man to contest 19 major finals and was ranked World No.1 in singles for 270 weeks. In doubles he won 6 titles. He retired in 1994.
He started his coaching journey with Andy Murray since beginning of 2012 and has been credited with improving Murray’s maturity and consistency. Andy started that season in great rhythm by wining Brisbane International. Then reached semi-finals at Australian Open, final at Wimbledon Championship, and at the same court few weeks later won the Olympic gold medal, becoming the first British man to manage that since 1908. He won the last Grand Slam of the year, US Open, by beating Novak Djokovic in the longest final in the tournament’s history. Murray finished the year as World No.3 and for his success that year he was appointed Officer of the Order of British Empire.
Andy began season 2013 by retaining his Brisbane International title and reached the final at Australian Open. Later he won his second Miami Masters title and become World No.2 for first time. Murray started grass-court season by claiming his third title at Queen’s Club and then he won Wimbledon, to become the first British winner since 1936. His season was cut short by his decision to undergo back surgery.
In Mach 2014 Lendl and Murray parted ways and they reunited again in June 2016.
“He’s a leader, a strong voice, loads of experience but also we have had a lot of similar experiences,” Murray said, per Daily Mail. “I have won matches where maybe you expect a pat on the back and you get the opposite. And sometimes I have lost matches and been told ‘you know what, you played great’.”
Since reunion in June, Murray had maybe the best season in his career. He won his 5th AEGON Championship, then for second time was winner at Wimbledon Championship and later at Rio Olympic Games won his consecutive Olympic Golden medal by beating Juan Martin Del Potro in the final. He continued his winning streak by winning the China Open, Shanghai Masters and Erste Bank Open. Then he entered Paris Masters and won it for the first time, at the end of the season won the ATP World Tour Finals and reached World No.1. The International Tennis Federation recognized Murray as their men’s 2016 ITF men’s world champion, the first time Murray had achieved this honor.
Unlike the previous one, season 2017 for Murray was far from successful. He won only one title at Dubai Championships and struggled with hip injury for almost a whole year. At the end of the season he and Ivan Lendl announced that they had mutually ended their coaching arrangement for a second time.
Since their third reunion in March 2022, Andy played Stuttgart Open final and entered the top 50 for the first time since 2018.
“Obviously having Ivan in my team helps. We’ve had a lot of success in the past, we know each other well and he still believes in me. There are not loads of coaches and people out there that have done over this last period, but he has.” Murray told reporters.
Besides Andy, in his career Ivan Lendl was coach of Alexander Zverev in period from August 2018 until July 2019. Lendl’s influence was immediately apparent on the field, as Alexander managed to win Washington Open and ATP Finals by beating Novak Djokovic, which was his first win over current World No.1 player. Since beginning of season 2019, Zverev won only Geneva Open and they split due to disappointing results in 2019 and personal differences. Zverev has stated that Lendl was more interested in his dog or his golf game than in professional coaching.
Andy Murray’s Past Coaches
Murray’s coaching staff has changed a lot through the years. At early ages, in a period from 1998 until 2004 he was coached by Leon Smith.
Leon Smith
Leon Smith was born 1976 in Glasgow, Scotland. He played junior tennis at national level but did not become a professional player. Began coaching professionally at club level aged 18, became national performance officer for Tennis Scotland and LTA Master Performance Coach. Since 2010 he is Great Britain Davis Cup Captain & Head of Men’s Tennis.
In the period coaching Murray, Andy won 1999 and 2001 Orange Bowl and in 2003 he started out on the Challenger and Futures Circuit. He won his first senior title at Glasgow Futures, then won Xativa and Rome Futures and 2004 Junior US Open. Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. Smith and Murray remained friends, and he assisted Murray in few occasions later in his career.
As a young and prospective player Andy went to Barcelona to train at Sánchez-Casal Academy where was guided by Pato Alvarez.
Pato Alvarez
Pato Alvarez was born on 15th December 1934 in Medellin, Colombia and died this year at age of 87. During his career he was an eight-time Colombian national champion and his best result on Majors is third round at French Open. He relocated to Spain in 1970s where is recognized as creator of the current Spanish tennis training system and became a world acclaimed tennis coach. In the 1980s was the technical manager of the Royal Spanish Tennis federation and was in charge of choosing the best Spanish tennis players whom he accompanied in the main tournaments on the circuit. He trained outstanding Spanish rackets such as Emilio Sanchez Vicario and prominent tennis players on the international scene such as Andy Murray and Juan Monaco.
In April 2005, Murray parted from his coach Pato Alvarez, complaining about his negative attitude.
In April 2005, Andy appointed Mark Petchey as his coach.
Mark Petchey
Marc Petchey was born 1st August 1970 in Essex, England. He was educated at Forest School, a private school in north-east London. His first coach was his father, Rod. He turned pro in 1988 and won only one title in doubles at Nottingham Open.
Under his guidance, Murray won Challenger events on the hard courts at Aptos and Binghamton.
“Andy is a special sportsman, who should be cherished nationwide for his dedication and unique ability.” said Petchey in an interview.
After Petchey, Murray teamed up with Brad Gilbert.
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert was born 9th August 1961 in Oakland, USA. He began playing tennis at age 4 after his father, Barry Gilbert took up the sport. Gilbert joined the professional tour in 1982 and won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1990, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 18 four years prior. Since retiring from the tour, he has coached several top players, most notably Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Kei Hishikori.
Gilbert was the coach of Andre Agassi for eight years, from March 1994 until January 2002. Agassi won six of his eight majors when Gilbert was his coach. Agassi described Gilbert as “the greatest coach of all time.” On June 3, 2003, Gilbert became the coach of Andy Roddick, who won the 2003 US Open under Gilbert’s guidance, as well as clinching the year-end world no. 1 for 2003 and reaching the 2004 Wimbledon final. December 2010 it was announced that Gilbert would return to coaching, and partner with Kei Nishikori of Japan for 15 tournaments in the 2011 season. Gilbert’s partnership with Nishikori concluded at the end of the 2011 season.
At the same start of collaboration with Andy, he managed to win San Jose Open, by defeating top 10 player for the first time and becoming British No.1. During 2007, Murray won San Jose and St. Petersburg Open and finished the season as World No.11.
Andy began season 2008 by mentorship of Miles Maclagan.
Miles Maclagan
Miles Maclagan was born on 23th September 1974 in Zambia. He started playing tennis at age of 12 in the United Kingdom and reached a highest ranking of 172 in singles and 200 in doubles. As a coach he mentored doubles specialists such as Wayne Black and Kevin Ulyett and was part of their team as they went on to winning the Australian Open Doubles title in 2005. He also was coach of Phillip Kohlchreiber, Marcos Baghdatis, Laura Robson, Sam Stosur and Borna Coric. Guided by him, Baghdatis managed to win 2012 Zagreb Indoors in doubles.
With Maclagan, Andy had fruitful starting season, by winning 2008 Doha, Marseille and St. Petersburg Open and reaching his first Grand Slam final at US Open. He ended the season ranked World No.4.
Andy opened season 2009 with defending his Doha title, then won Rotterdam Open, Miami Masters, his first title at Queen’s, Montreal and Valencia Open. During the year he overtook and held number two position in the rankings but finished the season as World No.4.
“I thought a lot of Murray when we started and my respect for him has grown over the year, especially in the last few months. To have seen it from the inside has been incredible. It’s not just on the tennis court that he’s competitive, it’s all-round. He finds a way to get into it and charges himself up,” said Maclagan.
After few bad results at the first half of 2010 they parted ways.
“Andy employed me to give my opinions, and these ones he didn’t quite agree with, so we are where we are now. I think in any organization you need to be clear in the direction, so we knew if we didn’t come to an agreement we could be where we are now.” said Maclagan when they split.
In a short time Murray hired new coach in a name of Alex Corretja.
Alex Corretja
Alex Corretja was born 11th April 1974 in Barcelona, Spain. He is a former pro tennis player since 1991 and during his career won seventeen singles titles and three titles in doubles. Among them hi won ATP World Tour Championships, Italian Masters, Indian wells and first ever Davis cup title with Spain. He retired in 2005, started coaching and as of 2015, he works for Eurosport as a field interviewer at the Grand Slam tournaments.
After connecting with Corretja, Murray defended his Canada Open title, then won Shanghai Open and at Valencia Open reached his first doubles title alongside his brother Jamie. In march 2011 they parted ways.
In 2014 after his lost in French Open semifinals, Andy made a historic move and appointed Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, which made her first woman in history to coach top male tennis player.
Amelie Mauresmo
Amelie Mauresmo was born on 5th July 1979 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. She began playing tennis at the age of four, after being inspired by Yannick Noah’s win in the 1983 French Open. She won 25 singles titles out of which one Wimbledon and one Australian Open and reached World No.1 in 2004. After fifteen years of pro career she retired in 2009. Since 2021 she is director of the French Open.
While been coached by Mauresmo, Andy won Shenzhen, Vienna and Valencia Open in 2014. In 2015 she informed Murray that she was pregnant and wil be on maternity leave, so he announced that Jonas Bjorkman will be his head coach until end of the season.
Jonas Bjorkman
Jonas Bjorkman was born 23rd March 1972 in Alvesta, Sweden. The son of tennis coach Lars Björkman, Jonas began playing tennis at the age of six. He was known for playing in doubles where won 54 titles out of which nine Grand Slams and was World No.1. Playing singles he won only 6 titles.
For the rest of 2015 while Bjorkman and Murray trained together, Andy won Munich Open for his first clay-court title, followed by another one at Madrid Open. Then he won his fourth Queen’s title, Montreal Open and with Great Britain won Davis Cup title, their first since 1936. At the end of the season they ended their collaboration and during 2016 Andy and Mauresmo issued a joined statement that they ended coaching partnership.
During Andy’s career part of the team also were Dani Vallverdu and Jamie Delgado as training partner and assistant coach and Jez Green as a fitness coach.
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Andy Murray’s achievements with different coaches
We have collected in the table the data about the trophies won by Andy Murray under the guidance of various coaches.
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