John McEnroe believes Ivan Lendl could provide Andy Murray with the change of direction he needs to move up the rankings.
Murray's new coach praised
John McEnroe believes his former rival Ivan Lendl could provide Andy Murray with the change of direction he needs to move up the rankings.
The British No.1 is yet to end the country's drought in major tournaments, reaching three grand slam finals - including the last two Australian Opens - but failing to go on to win any of them.
However Lendl, an eight-time grand slam winner, has the pedigree which McEnroe believes could take Murray all the way.
The pair began working together in the New Year and opening results have been positive with Murray winning the Brisbane International on his first outing of the year.
Unexpected
McEnroe, whose rivalry with the Czech became fierce over their 36 encounters, said: "I hate to give credit to Lendl but Murray needed to do something out of the ordinary instead of going with the predictable re-tread.
McEnroe, who won seven grand slam singles titles, lost 21 of his matches against the man he labelled "scary robot".
"This is definitely something that was, to me, unexpected," he added. "I didn't know that Lendl wanted to coach. He could bring something to the table, without a doubt."
And McEnroe recognises the similarities between the careers of the two players.
"Lendl didn't win a major until he was 24 and guess what? Murray is 24 right now," he said.
"So that could provide something worth it for Murray, I'm going to be paying attention to that, see how it works out."
