Coaching conundrums: Murray & Berdych

It’s not often that two Top 10 players go into a Grand Slam without a coach, but at Roland Garros Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych are doing just that. However, as doubles legend Todd Woodbridge explains, their situations – and coaching requirements – couldn’t be more different.

You might say that Andy Murray doesn’t have a coach but he does have a distinct team around him. He’s got Jamie Delgado sitting in the box, and while he wasn’t a top singles player, he knows the game well and is a solid tactician.

So he does have a coach, just not a high-profile, fancy one. It’s like saying Severin Luthi was not a coach to Roger Federer for all of those years. Andy has built that solid team around him over all of these years.

Can he win Majors with the group he’s got? Yes – it’s just a decision for him. Andy has so much experience – he knows what he’s been told.

It’s like going to a sports psychologist. They help you initially because they give you the tools you need to take on court and get through the moment you’re not comfortable with. But after a while you’ve got those tools and it’s up to you to use them. Andy is now at a point in his career where he has the tools and he has to make the decision to use them. So yes, I think he can win without a high profile person sitting in his box.

Tomas Berdych is different – he needs someone in his corner like Ivan Lendl. He needs somebody to say something like ‘get your head out of the sand because you’re doing everything right and your belief lies here’. That’s what I see as the next step for Tomas.

He’s a really great ball striker – a great player. But we’ve all seen him, just at the last minute, lack that real belief in himself. I think that if he wants Majors, he’s got to go and hire the person he doesn’t want to hire – a person who is going to tell him the truth.

If he does that I think he can win Majors. I think he’s capable of it but he needs things to go his way – a bit like Stan Wawrinka or Michael Chang. He’s not going to win four or five, but he’s certainly got the ability to win one.