Andy Murray has split with his long-time training partner and friend Dani Vallverdu. Jez Green, who has looked after the player’s fitness programme for seven years, has also gone.
“We sat down at the end of the season and decided that a change would be best for all of us,” Murray said on Wednesday. “My off-season training and Australian Open preparations have already begun and I am very excited for the new year. I thank Jez and Dani for all their hard work over the years and wish them the best for the future.”
Murray has known Vallverdu since they were teenagers at the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona. The Venezuelan, a player of moderate talent but sound tennis judgment, began working with him as an adviser and coaching partner five years ago.
Green, who had a martial arts background, has travelled with Murray extensively, as well as supervising his off-season training bloc in Miami every December.
Both Vallverdu and Green were known to be incensed when Murray announced, during last year’s French Open, that he was appointing Amélie Mauresmo to replace Ivan Lendl as his coach, without consulting them.
That row was resolved quickly and, since Mauresmo’s arrival, Murray has made a point of mentioning Vallverdu whenever he speaks about his French coach. Tensions might well have resurfaced in a tough conclusion to the season. However, there was no indication of friction between Vallverdu and Mauresmo, who has been criticised in some quarters for her low-key approach to the job, although it clearly suits Murray after the more robust Lendl regime. The split with Vallverdu and Green was said to be “mutually agreed”.
Murray won two majors and an Olympic gold medal with Lendl but his recovery from back surgery in September 2013 has been steady rather than spectacular. He won three titles towards the end of the season – after a barren time of it up to that point in his comeback – to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London. But his final competitive match of the 2014 season was an embarrassing, one-sided defeat by Roger Federer two weeks ago.
It is understood Murray has totally reorganised his backroom staff and business dealings since forming his 77 Group. He is in the Philippines this week for the start of the inaugural International Premier Tennis League and hopes to meet the country’s most famous athlete, boxer Manny Pacquiao, who last weekend retained his WBO world welterweight title over 12 rounds against Chris Algieri in Macau.
Murray is a serious boxing fan and the presence of Pacquiao at the IPTL would do ticket sales no harm.
