IVAN Lendl never quite managed to scheme his way to the Wimbledon singles title as a player.
Twice the taciturn Czech reached the championship match at SW19, losing to Boris Becker in 1986 and Pat Cash in 1987, and making the semi-finals on five separate occasions.
The entire experience is somewhat different as a coach, but masterminding a title win here remains unfinished business for the 53-year-old, who has been in charge of Andy Murray's affairs for 18 months.
With meetings between the world's two best players the closest thing tennis gets to outright warfare, the Czech said he had been poring over the Scot's previous meetings with Djokovic and felt he could put at least two to good use: last year's victory in the Olympic semi-final and the punishing Australian Open final defeat in January.
"There must have been something wrong there," Lendl said, "because Andy didn't win the match. I must find and I did find some things he can do better. But I am not going to share them. I can find points to improve even in the matches Andy wins. I can always easily find things everyone can do better. No-one ever plays a perfect match.
"Any time you get No 1 and No 2 in the world playing a Grand Slam final you should not be complaining as a fan. The Olympics was the only match they played on grass so absolutely I will look at it."
Typically, Lendl downplays his role on Team Murray, although the fact Murray has reached the last four major finals he has entered would seem to signify that he runs a fairly efficient operation.
The dynamic has changed recently: the formerly dour Czech was spotted playing in a jolly pre-tournament charity match in aid of the cancer unit at the Royal Marsden hospital.
"I try to let Andy do what he does best and stay just behind. If I see something I will point it out," said the Czech. "I can't find a reason why he shouldn't have reached the last four Grand Slam finals. Those guys – Novak, Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] – are great players and you can find many other players who can give them a hard time and beat them occasionally. But when he plays well Andy should be getting to semi-finals and finals."
Colin Fleming, the doubles player who is occasionally an additional member of the Scot's extended entourage, said he thought victory in that Olympic semi-final on grass could give his pal a slight edge.
"The history of matches between the two suggest it will be a brutal match and if it is going to be 30 degrees or higher on Centre Court then that only adds to the physicality," Fleming said.
"These are the two fittest guys in the game and it will come down to who is the strongest. It will be a real challenge for Djokovic to recover because [Juan Martin] Del Potro was the one dictating most of the rallies during their epic match and he was doing all the running. He has shown in the past he does possess amazing powers of recovery but he will need to do it again.
"You can come up with all the stats in world about serve percentage and serve returns but the outcome of this match will be decided on who holds their nerve on the big points. Andy has a slight advantage although when you are dealing with margins of just 1% and 2% that can make all the difference."
Stewart Fisher
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