By Sudipto Ganguly
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Andy Murray started working with former coach Daniel Vallverdu this month on a short-term basis as the multiple Grand Slam winner works towards rediscovering the form that took him to the top of the world rankings.
Murray has struggled for consistency since returning to the circuit after undergoing career-threatening hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019. He is ranked 95th after returning to the top 100 on Monday for the first time since May, 2018.
Venezuelan Vallverdu, who is still contracted to Swiss Stan Wawrinka, worked with Murray when the British player won the Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games, the U.S. Open title the same year and Wimbledon in 2013.
Murray, 34, split with his long-term coach Jamie Delgado at the end of the 2021 season and ended a trial with German Jan de Witt at the end of the Australian Open, where he was knocked out in the second round.
He approached Vallverdu after the year’s opening major and they agreed to work together again, according to a source close to the situation.
The coaching arrangement, which started in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where Murray is playing an ATP 500 event after receiving a wildcard, will be until Vallverdu returns to work with Wawrinka next month.
Murray has said he will skip the claycourt tournaments this year to avoid the risk of getting injured.
Three-times major winner Wawrinka is targeting a return to the ATP Tour on clay in April after a foot injury forced him to sit out for over a year.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ed Osmond)
