Andy Murray still searching for coach and fitness as French Open nears

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/17/andy-murray-coach-fitness-french-open-rafael-nadal

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Andy Murray, his spirit and body recovering from various forms of bruising, says it is "not impossible" he will appoint a new coach before the French Open, which starts next Sunday.

After an encouraging but frustrating quarter-final against Rafael Nadal in the Rome Masters on Friday night – their first encounter in two-and-a-half years and the Spaniard's 14th win out of 19, and his fifth straight on clay – the world No8 spoke about life after Ivan Lendl, who ended their two-year association in March, and how much he was looking forward to returning to Roland Garros after missing last year's tournament through injury.

Murray played sublimely in the first half-hour against Nadal before the world No1, who was in danger of being blown away, found some rhythm, became more aggressive and won 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 40 minutes, coming back from 2-4 down in the third set.

"I'm going to speak to a few people in the next few days," Murray said of his ongoing search for a coach. "It depends a little bit how quick somebody might want to do the job. It's not just about money or getting a contract. Someone might say they really want to do it and come straight away, and some people might want to make sure there's a watertight contract in place before we start working. It depends a little bit on the person."

Lendl leaving has plainly hit Murray hard, however, and he probably will be more settled if he finds the right replacement soon. "A lot has happened in the past two months aside from coming back from surgery. That was a tricky few months since March. I was expecting to start playing better around this time, start feeling physically better and be in a better place.

"It's tough. You're training but a lot of that is gradually building up. You don't just go flat out four weeks after surgery. Rafa, when he had his knee problem, he was practising for a long time before he started playing tournaments again.

"He got sick before the Australian Open. He had been preparing to get ready for that and had six to eight weeks training before he came back. I really only had a couple of weeks of full-on training before Australia and it takes time to play at that level. It's not easy and things still hurt. It takes time for everything to heal 100%. I feel like I'm starting to get there."

It is clear, also, that the incentive of a grand slam lifts his level. "I've played some of my best tennis in the slams in recent years. A lot of that has been down to physical strength. I need to make sure I'm on it from the beginning of matches, no slow starts.

"I've got a good opportunity to do well there. I'm very excited to play the French Open. I missed it last year and that was a very tough one at the time, so I'm looking forward to going back."

Murray said he has had to relearn the art of patience in his urge to rediscover his pre-surgery form, a summer in which he won Queen's and Wimbledon to go with the Olympic gold medal and the US Open title the year before. He mentioned how he had had chances against all the leading players since his return, but not quite nailed them: against Roger Federer in the quarter-finals in Melbourne, say, as well as in tough Tour matches against Milos Raonic and Novak Djokovic. "I had opportunities in a lot of the matches and didn't manage to finish them off. Some of them were maybe through a lack of matches and lack of confidence and some of it was also a bit physical."

He tired towards the end of Friday's match but the first-set blitz was stunning. For half an hour he played the best tennis most observers had seen on the Tour this year, serving at his peak and hitting the ball with power and accuracy off the ground. Nadal was impressed. "Every victory is special but this one is important for me, against one of the best players in the world," he said. "He played well so it is a victory that really means a lot to me.

"Andy has been on the Tour for a while, and it is always hard to come back from an injury, but the important thing is that he's able to practise well. His level is really high, no doubt about it, and he will be one of the toughest opponents to beat. He had time to prepare, to adapt [to the clay] and he played a great match."