Andy Murray plans to work with Jonas Bjorkman in the next month with a view to the former Wimbledon semi-finalist joining his coaching team full time. Swede Bjorkman, 42, will assist French Fed Cup captain Amelie Mauresmo, who works with Murray for 25 weeks a year.
Bjorkman, a former world number four, retired in 2008 and is appearing in Sweden’s ‘Let’s Dance’ TV series. He was suggested as a replacement for Ivan Lendl when the Czech ended his relationship with Murray a year ago.
Bjorkman also won nine grand slam doubles titles, including three successive Wimbledon crowns from 2002 to 2004. He was beaten in the last four of the men’s singles at the All England Club in 2006 by Roger Federer.
Murray parted company with Dani Vallverdu in November and has been looking for a coach to work with when Mauresmo does not travel.
Mauresmo joined Murray in Indian Wells this week, the first time they have been together at a tournament since the world number four lost last month’s Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic.
Since then, Murray has lost in the quarter-finals in Rotterdam and Dubai, before leading Britain to Davis Cup victory over the United States.
The 42-year-old Bjorkman will spend a week with Murray some time next month ahead of potentially joining the player’s coaching team on a permanent basis. Bjorkman is currently on a Swedish reality television show.
Murray said last week that his poor recent performances in tournaments in Rotterdam and Dubai, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals, were because Mauresmo was occupied with Fed Cup coaching duties with her native France. Mauresmo is only committed to Murray for 25 weeks per year.
Speaking about his coaching situation in Glasgow at the weekend, the 27-year-old Murray said: “After the Aussie Open, I spent the next three or four weeks with no coach and I feel that’s something I need to get sorted.
“I feel like there are some things I need to continue to work on all the time. When I don’t have someone there with me it’s a little bit harder to do that.
“For me, it’s better to have someone around, so I’ll try to make sure I do that for the clay-court season. That’s high on my list of priorities.”
Since retiring, Bjorkman has been involved with the Stockholm Open and the Swedish Davis Cup team.
Jonas Bjorkman to join Andy Murray coaching team for trial
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