- ATP Tour
Murray 'working harder than before'
Andy Murray's mother Judy believes Ivan Lendl is the perfect match for the British No. 1 and says the eight-time major champion was central to the Scot's US Open triumph.
Murray celebrated the most successful year of his career in 2012, reaching his first Wimbledon final before winning Olympic gold and landing his first grand slam title in New York.
Judy Murray, who is Britain's Fed Cup coach, believes Murray's decision to recruit the former world No. 1 a year ago was one of the best moves of his career.
"He's been a crucial factor in Andy's improvement and success this year," Murray told the BBC. "The wonderful thing about Ivan is that he's very similar in character to Andy, not least they have the same awful sense of humour! But seriously, he's very driven, very dedicated and he absolutely has his eyes on the prize.
"He knows what you have to go after and he knows that you have to be very single minded about going after it.
"He's got a real sense of direction, a real toughness and he's really helped Andy with the mental side of the game, about being able to reset if you suffer a disappointment, a bad call or a run of bad games. That's allowed him to play his best tennis for much longer periods of time."
Murray, who kicks off his 2013 campaign at the Mubadala Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi this week, has been working with Lendl at his annual pre-season training camp in Miami. He will then head east to defend his Brisbane International title before the first major of the year, the Australian Open in Melbourne.
"It's been a significant year for him," Murray said of her son. "It's given him a lot of confidence. He's worked even harder than before to go after another slam in Australia."