Murray brings back Lendl for coaching help

Associated PressMar 6, 2022, 2:35 PM EST

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Andy Murray’s manager announced that the 34-year-old from Scotland and Ivan Lendl have agreed to return to working together over the next few months.

Their partnership produced three Grand Slam singles trophies and two consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016 for Murray, the only tennis player with more than one Summer Games singles title.

“I have great respect for what Andy is trying to accomplish and want to try to help him as much as I can,” Lendl wrote in a text to The Associated Press.

The two men now plan to hold a training block in the United States for several weeks after the Miami Open hard-court tournament, which ends on April 3.

While the tennis tour moves to Europe for the clay circuit culminating with the French Open from May 22 to June 5, Murray will prepare for the grass season. Wimbledon begins on June 27.

Murray also intends to hire another coach who will work with Lendl and travel with Murray.

He is currently ranked 84th and has an 8-6 record in 2022, with losses in his second matches at each of his past four tournaments, including the Australian Open in January.

Murray has dealt with a series of injuries in recent years, most prominently serious hip problems that led to two operations. He had hip resurfacing surgery in 2019.

His greatest successes on the court have come with Lendl – who won eight Grand Slam titles as a player – in his corner.

That includes, most famously, the 2013 title at Wimbledon, which made Murray the first British man in 77 years to win the singles championship at the All England Club.

Before that, Lendl also coached Murray to his triumph at the 2012 U.S. Open. They went their separate ways in 2014, before reuniting in 2016, about a month before Murray won his second Wimbledon trophy.

Murray also made it to No. 1 in the ATP rankings while he was with Lendl, getting there for the first time in November 2016.

They stopped working together again in November 2017.

Over the years, Murray also has been coached by Amelie Mauresmo, Brad Gilbert and Jamie Delgado, among others.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.