At least, Andy Murray now has some time to think about his next move.
Andy Murray considers hiring John McEnroe as coach
The world's No. 8 player continued his descent down the ATP rankings Thursday, losing to 46th-ranked Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Madrid Open. According to The Telegraph, the match took just 70 minutes and Murray committed 24 unforced errors as Giraldo earned his first-ever victory over a top-10 player - on his 20th attempt.
Earlier this week, Murray said he was contemplating whether to ask tennis legend John McEnroe to replace the departed Ivan Lendl as his coach. Since his 2013 victory at Wimbledon that put him on the current pantheon of men's tennis that includes Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, Murray's game has fallen off dramatically.
First, a shoulder injury sidelined him for the bulk of the remainder of the 2013 season after Wimbledon. As he worked his way back into shape in 2014, Lendl, who had helped him win the 2012 U.S. Open and last year's Wimbledon, began the process of exiting as Murray's coach.
Procrastination in naming replacement coach for Ivan Lendl hurting Andy Murray
That became official in March, and Murray's game isn't getting any better. He's 19-8 on the year and has not reached a final in seven tournaments.
He admitted being lost without guidance.
"It's tough," he said on Thursday, The Telegraph reported, "because some days I'm playing well, and then the next day I'm not playing well. ... It's not necessarily about practicing loads of stuff on the court. I need to be mentally stronger and more switched on for longer."
"Yeah, my coach is missing. That's quite a big part of my team. I'll take the next couple of days to think about the coaching situation. I want to try to get someone in soon."
Murray said he didn't want to rush to hire a coach and make the wrong decision in discussing McEnroe.
"I need to have the right person in place. I don't want to have the wrong person in place by the French Open. I'd rather wait a few weeks and get the right person three weeks after Wimbledon," he said, according to BBC.com. "It depends how I do in the next couple of weeks. If I do well, I'm not going to have that much time. If I don't do so well, I'll have a little bit more time to think about it and chat to people."
According to The Telegraph, McEnroe said a couple of months ago that Murray probably wouldn't resemble in 2013 form until Wimbledon.
After Thursday's non-competitive loss, Murray has only himself to blame if he not on the phone with McEnroe immediately. If defending his Wimbledon crown is not a big deal to Murray, a test run now with McEnroe seems to be perfect timing.
If it doesn't work out, what's the harm?
If it works out, what the ceiling for Murray?
Is Andy Murray's cautious approach in finding a coach killing his chances of defending his Wimbledon crown? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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