Andy Murray's slow start to the season examined: Ivan Lendl thinks the World No 1 needed even more practice

Murray's coach has had his say on the World No 1's slow start to the year, and thinks his December training block was too short rather than too arduous

Lendl thinks Murray's December training block was too short (Getty)

There have been plenty of theories about the reasons for Andy Murray’s struggles in the first five months of this year, but for his coach, Ivan Lendl, the explanation is simple.

“You have to put in consistent work to have consistent results,” Lendl said here on Thursday on the eve of Murray’s French Open semi-final meeting with Stan Wawrinka.

“If you have three illnesses and an injury which take you out for some time, you start again, you get going, but then you get ill or injured again, and you end up starting again and again and again. It’s very difficult mentally for the player. It’s good that Andy’s healthy now and he can put in the practices - and I think the results are starting to come.”

Not much had gone right for Murray in 2017 until he found his form here. After a lacklustre Australian Open, where he lost to Mischa Zverev in the fourth round, Murray went down with shingles. Before the Miami Masters in March the world No 1 suffered an elbow injury and he has since had to deal with two bouts of flu.

“Andy was telling us in Australia that he felt sluggish and we saw absolutely no reason why,” Lendl said.

“Then he got home and three days later he texted that he had got shingles. You talk to a doctor and he will tell you that shingles is in the body two to three weeks in advance.”

Although physical issues prevented Murray from putting in the amount of training that he would have wanted in the first part of the year, Lendl said he had not been concerned by the latest bout of illness the Scot suffered in the week before the tournament started here.

“With the exception of the first two or three days, when he had a bit of flu, he has been putting in great work,” Lendl said. “He scraped through the first two matches and then the work started to come in.

“I don’t think he’s low physically. He’s pretty strong out there. He doesn’t feel tired the next day.”

Lendl says he has confidence in Murray's fitness (Getty)

Lendl added: “You don’t lose your conditioning over two or three-day flu. If you’re in bed for two or three weeks you lose your conditioning, but you just shake off flu and rebound very quickly to the level you were before.”

There have been suggestions that Murray paid the price for his exertions at the end of last year, when he gave his all in his ultimately successful pursuit of the world No 1 ranking and then had only a brief break before heading to a 17-day winter training camp in Miami with Lendl.

However, Lendl said the problem with the December training block had been that it was too short rather than too arduous.

Murray headed to Paris on the back of a poor run of results (Getty)

“I could have used another week,” Lendl said. “In my mind three or three and a half weeks is ideal for your biggest training block of the year in December. The problem with the season is that it goes on so long. Just imagine what that would have looked like if Britain had been in the final of the Davis Cup. Then it would have been a total shambles.”

Murray has hinted that while he is always motivated for the Grand Slam tournaments, he had sometimes struggled this year to find the same impetus during the long gap between the Australian and French Opens.

“Of course you focus on the Slams, but in order to play well in the Slams you have to have confidence,” Lendl said. “You get confidence through winning. You get winning through consistent work.”

Could more time on the court actually be in Murray's favour? (Getty)

Lendl also refused to buy into the theory that it might be to Murray’s advantage that he has played more tennis here than any of the other three semi-finalists, Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem having won all their matches in straight sets.

“I always read that you need a tough match early to get through it and that if you go through the draw without losing a set it may hurt you, but I kind of chuckle at that,” he said. “I don’t really pay much attention to that. As long as you have enough left in the tank it’s OK.”

Murray is the only semi-finalist not to have dropped a set (Getty)

Murray, who has been on court here for three hours longer than Wawrinka in the first five rounds, is seeking to become only the seventh man in the Open era to reach at least two finals at each of the four Grand Slam events.

While Murray has won 10 of his 17 meetings with 32-year-old Wawrinka, who is the oldest semi-finalist here for 32 years, the Swiss has won three of their four matches on clay. Murray’s only victory over him on terre battue came here in last year’s semi-finals, after which the Scot lost to Novak Djokovic in the final.

Murray got the better of Wawrinka in Paris last year (Getty)

“When we played last year, it was a similar situation coming in,” Murray recalled. “I think Stan had played really well coming into the match. I had struggled in some of my matches during the event last year, but I played one of my best clay-court matches that day to get the win. I need to do the same again

“He's been playing very well. He's not dropped a set here. He has obviously played extremely well the last few years at the French, and he's confident. It's going to be very tough. But I can learn some things from last year.”

Wawrinka, who won the title here three years ago and matches Murray's tally of three Grand Slam titles, is the bookmakers’ favourite to win their semi-final and thinks there are factors in his favour compared with 12 months ago. “I think Andy's probably a bit less confident,” the world No 3 said. “He's a bit more hesitant. Hopefully I can take advantage of that and find solutions to beat him.”