Miami: Andy Murray remained confident of defending his title at the ATP Miami Masters as he explained his surprise split from coach Ivan Lendl yesterday after two years together.
<img title="Andy Murray" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/mar/Andy-Murray2203.jpg" alt="" /> Andy Murray (left) talks to former coach Ivan Lendl. Pic/Getty Images.
&ldquo;It was mutual,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We sat down on Saturday evening, we went and had dinner, chatted for an hour about other stuff and then we chatted about us moving forward.&nbsp;&ldquo;That had been planned for a few weeks. We planned to sit down when I got to Miami to discuss moving forward.&rdquo;
The 26-year-old sixth seed from Scotland opened the defense of his Miami crown yesterday against Australia&rsquo;s Matthew Ebden.&nbsp;Murray said the decision came quickly once it became apparent there would be no furthering of the coach-pupil relationship.
&lsquo;It will be tough for me&rsquo; &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t going to happen. The best thing to do was just to move on,&rdquo; Murray said.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough one for me because he has been a big part of my life. He has been a big part of my team. He made a huge difference to my tennis.
Hard to replace &ldquo;Ivan&rsquo;s a very hard person to replace. You don&rsquo;t replace that sort of experience easily.&rdquo;&nbsp;Lendl, a 54-year-old former World No 1 who captured eight Grand Slam titles, guided Murray to US Open and Wiimbledon titles plus the London Olympic gold medal.
&ldquo;The thing that he was brought in to do was to help me get over the line in the big events, and that&rsquo;s what he did,&rdquo; Murray said.
Mental improvement &ldquo;As to what improvements he made to my game, I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s how I hit the ball or how I hit certain shots is that relevant. My game was there. It was the mental side in dealing with those pressure situations that he was there to help with. &ldquo;That was the biggest influence he had on my game.&rdquo;
Lendl was reportedly ready to move on after rediscovering his love of competition with recent success on the senior tour and the hope of more such matches to come.

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Scotsman explains his surprise split with coach Ivan Lendl after two fruitful years together

The best thing was to move on: Andy Murray

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The best thing was to move on: Andy Murray

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