Wimbledon: Ivan Lendl hopes to help Andy Murray 'ruin' Novak Djokovic's four Grand Slam chances

Andy Murray returns to Wimbledon among the favourites this summer (Getty)

Ivan Lendl says he would love to help Andy Murray “ruin” Novak Djokovic’s hopes of becoming only the third man ever to win a calendar-year Grand Slam of the sport’s four biggest titles.

Djokovic is already one of only eight men in history to have won a “career Grand Slam” of the four major trophies. In winning this year’s French Open he also became just the third man to hold all four titles at the same time. If he wins Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympics this summer he would be first man ever to complete a so-called “Golden Slam”.

Lendl, who began his second spell as Murray’s coach this week, said that Djokovic’s achievement in holding all four Grand Slam titles was “phenomenal”. As for the prospect of the world No 1 going on to win either a calendar-year Grand Slam or a Golden Slam, Lendl said: “Obviously Andy and I would like to ruin those plans if we can.”

The only other players who have held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time were Don Budge (in 1938) and Rod Laver (in 1962 and 1969), who both won pure calendar-year Grand Slams. “You can make the argument that in 1938 and 1962 all the pros didn’t play,” Lendl said. “But 1969 was incredible. That’s what puts Rod in the conversation of greatest of all time with Roger Federer. We will never settle that argument, but it’s a fun one to have anyway.

“Novak is holding all four. It’s something that hasn’t been done for a long time, almost 50 years, or by anyone else other than those two men, so you have to respect that.”

Asked what had made him open to the idea of coaching Murray again, Lendl said he had been impressed by the Scot’s motivation. He also said that having two hip replacements had been a big factor in his own well-being.

“I feel younger because I sleep at night,” he said. “With the hips I wasn’t sleeping at night. It just aches and you can’t sleep well, so I just do feel a lot younger. I’m trying to get fitter again and I enjoy that part of it.”

Lendl said the fact that Murray had won two Grand Slam titles meant the world No 2 was in a very different position now compared with when the two men started working together in 2012.

“Until you win one [Grand Slam title] you never know you have it in you,” Lendl said. “We know he has it in him now, so the question is: can he do it again? I think that’s an easier question to answer than: can you do it at all?”

Lendl will continue to coach some leading American juniors while working with Murray. “I love doing that,” he said. “I think they are going to be very helpful if we work long-term, for example in a training block. It will be great for the kids and great for Andy.

Lendl began his second spell as Murray’s coach this week (Getty)

“He will have access to six players and there are some guys with big serves, some with big ground strokes, some with good hands at the net. For whatever drills we need to do we have exactly what we need and for the kids that will be an opportunity they can’t get anywhere else.”

Murray will face a fellow Briton on home soil in a tour-level match for the first time in his career when he meets Aljaz Bedene in the second round of the Aegon Championships here on Thursday. There would have been a second all-British match on the programme if Dan Evans had not lost 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 to Paul-Henri Mathieu, who will now take on Kyle Edmund.

Edmund, the world No 85, enjoyed one of the finest wins of his career when he beat the world No 18, France’s Gilles Simon, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. The 21-year-old Briton’s previous biggest victory in terms of his opponent’s ranking came in Doha in January when he beat Martin Klizan, the world No 43. It was only Edmund’s second victory in the nine tour-level matches he has played on grass.

Milos Raonic secured his passage into the second round by beating Nick Kyrgios 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. The match resumed at the start of the third set after bad light had halted play the previous evening. Raonic broke in the ninth game of the deciding set and served out for victory after saving two break points.

Britain’s Naomi Broady and Tara Moore both suffered disappointing defeats at the Aegon Classic at Edgbaston despite winning the opening sets of their first-round matches. Australia’s Daria Gavrilova beat Broady 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Austria’s Tamira Paszek beat Moore 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Agnieszka Radwanska, the top seed, was beaten 7-5,4-6, 6-3 by Coco Vandeweghe.

Roger Federer won his opening match in Halle, beating Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6, but Kei Nishikori pulled out of the tournament with a rib injury before his second-round match against Florian Mayer.