Andy Murray’s Coach Ivan Lendl Drops Out of London

Written by: Staff on 6th December 2012

Andy Murray's Coach Ivan Lendl Drops Out of London

epa03299017 Andy Murray of Britain (L) and his coach Ivan Lendl (R) during a training session at Aorangi Park prior to Sunday's men's final match against Roger Federer for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 07 July 2012. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY |

London tennis fans, looking forward to applauding Ivan Lendl as the mastermind who finally turned Andy Murray into a Grand Slam champion, have suffered a disappointment as the former world no.1 made a last minute withdrawal from the Statoil Masters at Royal Albert Hall this week end.

Lendl, who has been working hard on his fitness in recent months and has shed considerable poundage in an attempt to get close to his playing weight that brought him eight Grand Slam titles was been to withdraw because of injuries to his knee and hip.

“I am very disappointed that I will not be fit enough to play in the Statoil Masters Tennis in London,” said Lendl from Florida where he has been overseeing Murray’s off-season training.

A year ago Lendl was also forced to send his apologies, again citing an injured knee. “I have been looking forward to playing in the tournament all year having heard so much about it,” continued the 52 year-old.

“For now I will concentrate on fixing and rehabilitating my knee and hip but I hope to be able to play at the Royal Albert Hall in the future.”

Guy Forget, the former French Davis Cup captain and current Tournament Director of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, has been brought in as a late substitute and will now face John McEnroe on Friday night and Jeremy Bates on Saturday afternoon.

On the ATP Champions Tour, some of the matches between Forget and McEnroe have been electric affairs. One match in Dublin saw a frustrated McEnroe put his foot through an advertising hoarding. He then swiped a matching hole in the advertising board on the other side of the court. In their careers before retirement, they played four times, winning two apiece.

The rest of the Legends tournament features 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, former World No.1 Mats Wilander, ever-popular Henri Leconte, and former British No.1 Jeremy Bates. In the ATP Champions Tour event, Tim Henman, Goran Ivanisevic, Mark Philippoussis, Carlos Moya, Fabrice Santoro and Thomas Enqvist will do battle.

On the first day of the tournament defending champion Henman made a quick dash from the All England Club’s Annual General Meeting in Pall Mall to register a 6-7, 6-3, 11-9 win over Enqvist. Earlier Santoro got off to a winning start against Philippoussis, winning a stunning first set tie-break 14-12 before triumphing 7-6, 6-3. In the Legends event Wilander beat Cash, still recovering from knee surgery, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 in a concluding Champion’s tiebreak.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Murray, British tennsi news, Guy Forget, Ivan Lendl, John Mcenroe, Royal Albert Hall tennis event, Statoil Masters, Tennis News