By Erik Gudris | Thursday, March 20, 2014

 

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray talked about their recent coaching decisions ahead of their opening matches in Miami.

Photo Credit: Corleve

While Novak Djokovic and defending champion Andy Murray are looking ahead to their early round matches at the Sony Tennis Open in Miami, the interest right now is on their coaches, or lack thereof.

Murray surprised many on Wednesday when he announced on his website the ending of his two-year coaching partnership with Ivan Lendl. While the split was amicable, the timing continues to provoke questions on what's next for the Scot.

"That had been planned for a few weeks," Murray said during a pre-event press conference about his meeting with Lendl this past weekend. "That wasn't something that happened after Indian Wells. We planned to sit down when I got to Miami to discuss, you know, sort of moving forward. Yeah, it wasn't going to happen. Yeah, the best thing to do was just to move on. You know, it's a tough one for me because he's been a big part of my life. He's been a big part of my team. He made a huge difference to my tennis. So very hard person to replace, you know. You can't replace that sort of experience easily. So that's tough."

READ - Murray and Lendl Split After Two Years

Indications from both men suggest it was mainly Lendl who wanted to move on and pursue other interests. But who might be Murray's next coach is still undetermined.

"Can't replace someone like him," Murray said when asked if he doesn't need a coach. "It's very hard to replace someone like him. But I would hope that I've learnt enough from him and a way to approach those matches and how to deal with those situations better. Because I have won those matches, so I know how to deal with it better now. But, yeah, obviously I would still like to have someone like that in my corner in those situations, because he's going to help."

Djokovic Enters Miami Without Becker

When asked his thoughts about the Murray and Lendl split, Djokovic admitted he was not caught off-guard by the news.

"Well, to be honest, I was not surprised," Djokovic said. "But, again, I didn't know what to expect. They worked for two years, and obviously it brought both of them, especially Andy, a lot of success on the court. He won Olympic Games, won a few Grand Slams. I think it was a very good decision from inside to be working with Ivan. Now they split. I mean, they obviously had a good reason for that. I'm not the one who should judge."

Fresh off winning his first title of the season at Indian Wells, Djokovic returns to Miami but once again without his head coach Boris Becker by his side.

That's because Becker, who planned to be in Miami, was forced to have a double hip operation this week. As was the case in Indian Wells, Marian Vajda will take charge of coaching duties during the event.

Becker's absence again raised speculation on his partnership with Djokovic. But the Serbian star was quick to say everything is working out as it was Vajda who proposed the change so he could spend more time with his own family.

"He wanted to spend more time with his family, and it was time for me to kind of try to get somebody that is able to commit for more tournaments than Marian," Djokovic said. "So when Marian was still around, as you see, it was planned for him to be in Indian Wells; now he's in Miami because of this situation. But they split tournaments. I mean, Boris is supposed to travel to more tournaments. They have a very good communication and relationship, and I'm happy with the way it all has started."

Djokovic confirmed Becker, once he recovers, is expected to travel to Djokovic's next event in Monte-Carlo.