Cahill Will be Occasionally Available to Assist Murray

Written by: Staff on 5th January 2012

Brisbane International tennis tournament

Cahill Will be Occasionally Available to Assist Murray

Andy Murray of Great Britain plays a backhand return during his second round match against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 04 January 2012. Murray won 4-6, 7-6(4) and 6-0. EPA/DAVE HUNT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

While Andy Murray was insistent he wanted Darren Cahill to remain an occasional part of his support team at events, when adidas and ESPN commentating commitments allowed, the Australian has decided the best policy is to give the world no.4 and Ivan Lendl the opportunity alone to forge their new relationship.

Cahill will still be available to counsel Murray on request via the telephone but believes it would be wrong to actually sit alongside Lendl in courtside players boxes and share a practice court.

“Getting a good person alongside like Ivan is crucial is for Andy,” said Cahill. “It’s time for them to get to know each other and they need their space.”

Cahill, previously coach to Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi is insistent he is not in a position to take a full time appointment with any player. He turned down the offer of permanently coaching Murray full-time in the same way he did with Roger Federer and is more than content to split his time between various adidas players and commentate alongside Patrick McEnroe and Brad Gilbert for ESPN.

Speaking to The Times newspaper, Cahill continued: “I was there at the first meeting in Miami last month. We sat down for three hours talking about tennis and I thought Ivan was inspiring.

“The fact he has never coached before is irrelevant. He understands the sport and the way he used to go about his game was the benchmark of a professional athlete.

“Who knows where the personalities will end up, but what I’m very confident about is, at the end of this, whether it lasts six months or six years, Andy will be a better player and person for it.”

Meanwhile Murray requested a one-off appearance at next week’s AAMI Classic at Melbourne’s Kooyong and will play Argentinean David Nalbandian next Friday.

Kooyong tournament director Colin Stubs said he agreed to stage an extra match after being told Murray was looking for more game time.