Andy Murray: Former tennis great James Blake explains why two-time Wimbledon champion can become ‘a great coach’

Former American tennis great James Blake explains why a coaching role would bring Andy Murray “joy” following his retirement from the game at the Paris Olympics.

A popular, and successful, figure in men’s tennis, the Olympics marked Murray’s adieu for the final time.

Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion, is the only athlete with two singles golds in the sport, having won the event at London 2012 and Rio four years later.

After having hip replacement surgery in 2019, and a plethora of other injuries, the Scot withdrew from the singles at Wimbledon because he needed a procedure to remove a cyst from his spine.

And he gave one final, tearful, lingering wave to all sides of Court Suzanne Lenglen after he and Dan Evans were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Olympic men’s doubles in the final match of his career.

So what about life after tennis? Blake, a former world No 4 and two-time US Open quarter-finalist, thinks Murray could have a bright future as a coach.

“He could be a great coach. He knows the game so well, so I think he would help someone,” said the American, who is the tournament director for the Miami Open.

“I always think the mark of a great coach is really the way they’re able to relate it to players, to their player, which is more individual, and so I would think he’s going to be great at that.

“You never can tell for sure, but I would think he’d be great, but it also would bring him joy.

“I had to take a little time away from the sport, which was five or six months where I just really didn’t want to think about the sport, and it renewed my joy, my love of the sport. I don’t know if he wants to take a month or two off or a year, whatever. He’s entitled to do whatever he wants, and then just see what aspect of the game he misses and wants to come back to, and if that’s coaching, then great.