Andy Murray’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, tells the Telegraph that the reason behind the fifth-ranked Briton’s recent slump is his disappointing loss to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final. Murray is 0-3 since then."He probably got hit harder this year," said Gilbert, referring to Murray’s 2010 slump, when he also played below his level after he lost to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final. "Just like a hangover, it takes time to recover. At every level, the core of success depends on the level of confidence. Murray is too great a player not to consider this a road bump. He will come out of this. He is too good not to.”
British Davis Cup captain John Lloyd told FoxSports.com that Murray's 6-1, 7-5 to Alex Bogomolov Jr. in Miami was "mind-boggling."
"It is really unbelievable," Lloyd said. "For a top player to have a run of results like this is very unusual. He is simply in a different league to his last two opponents. No disrespect to Bogomolov, but he is just a hard-working road runner. Andy has no business being bothered by players of that level."
Murray recently said that he has asked his best friend, former player Dani Vallverdu, to travel with him to most tournaments, making him at least his part-time coach along with Alex Corretja. "He has to find a coach he will listen to," Lloyd said. "This habit of looking to his support group for answers during a match is hopeless. If you are No. 4 or No. 5, you have to work it out for yourself. He needs a change of attitude."—Matthew Cronin