British number one Andy Murray has split with coach Ivan Lendl for a second time by “mutual agreement”.
The Scot won Wimbledon, the US Open and Olympic gold during two years with Lendl from 2012 to 2014.
Murray was then coached by Amelie Mauresmo before turning back to Lendl in 2016, winning his second Wimbledon title, a second Olympic gold and becoming world number one that year.
“I’m thankful to Ivan for his help and guidance over the years,” Murray said.
“We’ve had great success and learned a lot as a team. My focus now is on getting ready for Australia with the team I have in place and getting back to competing.”
Former world number one and eight-time Grand Slam winner Lendl, 57, added: “I wish Andy well going forward. We had a great run and a lot of fun.”
Murray has been recovering from a hip injury, and his last competitive match was a Wimbledon quarter-final defeat by Sam Querrey in July.
He has since slipped to 16th in the latest world rankings, but earlier this month he played in a charity match against Roger Federer.
After losing 6-3 3-6 10-6, Murray said he “hoped” to return to competition at the Brisbane International in January.
The tournament is held two weeks before the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of 2018, which gets under way on 15 January.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Murray and Lendl have spent very little time in each other’s company this season as injury has forced the former world number one to spend so much time on the sidelines.
But Lendl’s return – to work alongside Jamie Delgado – at The Queen’s Club in June of last year was the spark for an extraordinary run of success.
Murray won eight tournaments between June and November, including Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics, and won the last five events he entered to pip Novak Djokovic to the year-end number one position.
The partnership fizzled out first time around as Murray was returning from back surgery, and there is a clear parallel three-and-a-half-years on.
Finding a figure of Lendl’s stature to supplement the valuable work of Delgado may not be of pressing concern to Murray right now.
First and foremost he craves fitness, and the chance to be able to compete for the sport’s major prizes once again.
Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares made it through to the semi-finals with victory over top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo at the ATP Finals in London.
Fourth seeds Murray and Soares knew that only a win would do against a pair who had already qualified, and they prevailed 6-2 6-4 in 73 minutes.
They will play Henri Kontinen and John Peers at 18:00 GMT on Saturday.
Earlier, Kubot and Melo will face Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus at 14:00.
Murray had felt a slight back issue in his previous match, but there was no sign of it as he and Soares raced into a 5-0 lead and had three points for a love set, only to let a 40-0 lead slip.
Any glimmer of resistance was snuffed out when Brazilian Melo netted a volley to drop serve, and with it the set, in game eight.
An early break in the second set was handed back by a Murray double fault, and a 3-0 lead threatened to turn into a deficit when they faced three break points at 3-3.
Murray held firm, however, clenching his fist after saving the third with a smash, and a loose Melo service game saw the contest end when Poland’s Kubot sent a volley over the baseline.
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Watch five best shots as Belgian seventh seed David Goffin completes the semi-final line-up at the ATP Finals with victory over Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem.
| ATP Finals | |
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| Venue: The 02 Arena, London Dates: 12-19 November | |
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Belgian seventh seed David Goffin completed the semi-final line-up at the ATP Finals with victory over Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem in London.
Goffin won 6-4 6-1 to secure second place in the Pete Sampras Group and set up a semi-final against Roger Federer at 14:00 GMT on Saturday.
“It will be a tough match, so nice to play a semi against him,” said Goffin.
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov will face American Jack Sock in Saturday’s other last-four contest at 20:00.
Dimitrov will play Pablo Carreno Busta in the last of the round-robin matches at 20:00 on Friday, but with the qualification scenario settled they are playing for 200 ranking points and the £145,000 prize money for a match win.
Fourth seed Thiem produced a desperately disappointing performance with the prize of a semi-final place at the season finale on offer.
He began in suitably focused fashion, winning a punishing 32-stroke rally on his way to establishing a 3-0 lead, but Goffin would win 12 of the next 14 games.
A double-fault from the Austrian handed the break back in game five, one of 15 straight points Thiem conceded as he started to spray errors from the baseline.
There was a chance to re-establish himself in the set with Goffin serving for it at 30-30, but Thiem leaked a forehand pass wide and the set was gone when Goffin slammed a forehand winner down the line.
After a brief delay for attention to a bloodied knee, Thiem continued to struggle badly in the second set.
By the time he fired a backhand wide to miss a third break point at 4-1 down, he had racked up 22 unforced errors.
Goffin remained steady and patient, coming through that game in 11 minutes for a 5-1 lead and closing out the victory with a backhand winner after an unexpectedly swift 71 minutes.
“It was a pity to play against Dominic, he is such a good friend and a nice guy, it’s never easy to play against a friend,” said Goffin.
“It was tough, I was focused, I knew I had to stay calm and be ready for a tough battle. At the end I was happy with the way I managed the match.”
It was an impressive response from the Belgian, who beat a struggling Rafael Nadal in his opening match before taking just two games against a rampant Dimitrov.
“After the first match against Rafael I wasted so much energy, I was not ready for Grigor, but I had a good rest yesterday and was ready for today, and I hope I can do the same for the semi-finals,” added Goffin.
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Alternates win their lone appearance at 2017 season finale
Alternates Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic made the most of their first team appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday when they defeated four-time former champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in Group Woodbridge/Woodforde.
The Bryans, who finished with a 1-2 record, will qualify for the semi-finals on Saturday so long as defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers beat Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in tonight’s evening session.
Marach and Pavic, who replaced seventh seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers for the final day of round-robin play, defeated the four-time former champions and fifth seeds 6-4, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
Marach and Pavic came close to taking a 3-0 lead in the first set, but at 30/40 on Mike Bryan’s serve, Bob Bryan crossed on a return for a backhand volley winner. Mike Bryan lost his serve at 3-3 in the second set.
The Bryans, who first qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in 2001, are now 38-24 on the season that includes two ATP World Tour titles. Mike Bryan is tied with Canada’s Daniel Nestor on 1,056 for all-time career doubles match wins in the Open Era.
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A deal with Amazon to broadcast the main tournaments in men’s tennis only on the internet from 2019 will be “one of the most successful this decade”.
Chris Kermode, the president of the ATP, made the claim after confirming a four-year deal that will see online channel Amazon Prime replace Sky.
The deal will cover 37 ATP Tour events, including nine Masters tournaments.
That excludes the grand slams and the ATP Finals, but it has been reported a deal may be struck for the US Open.
“The opportunities are endless,” Kermode said.
“We’re really trying to find ways to be innovative, creative, and be aware of the changing landscape of how people are consuming sports and entertainment and trying to get a younger demographic.”
Anyone with an Amazon Prime membership will be able to access the coverage on Prime Video, which gives members unlimited streaming of films and TV episodes.
Members will also have on-demand access to matches, highlights and press conferences.
The BBC holds rights for the ATP Finals at the O2 Arena and the grass-court tournaments at Queen’s Club and Eastbourne.
Amazon already has a contract to show 11 NFL games per season and have been linked with a bid for when the Premier League rights are put out to tender in December.
Exciting new deal announced
• Amazon Prime Members in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland Will Have Access to 37 ATP World Tour Events
• Tennis TV, which includes over 2,000 live matches from the ATP World Tour, will be Available on Amazon Channels in the U.S. in 2018
ATP and ATP Media today announced two new deals with Amazon Prime Video – live and on-demand distribution rights to the ATP World Tour in U.K. and Republic of Ireland, and the availability of Tennis TV on Amazon Channels in the U.S.
ATP World Tour on Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime members in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland will have access to 37 ATP World Tour events on Amazon Prime Video in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland from 2019 to 2023. Amazon will have full exclusivity, outside of Tennis TV, to all ATP World Tour Masters 1000s, twelve of each of the 500s and 250s, and the Next Gen ATP Finals. Amazon will also become the ATP’s exclusive third-party pay-TV partner for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals at The O2 in London, the Queen’s Club Championships, and the Eastbourne International, with the latter two starting in 2018. In addition to live coverage, Prime members will have on-demand access to completed matches, highlights, tournament review shows, press conferences, and additional original content.
Tennis TV on Amazon Channels
Tennis TV, ATP Media’s direct to consumer streaming service, can be subscribed to via Amazon Channels for Prime members in the U.S. on a non-exclusive basis starting in 2018. Subscribers to the Tennis TV service via Amazon Channels will be provided with the ability to watch over 2000 live matches from the ATP World Tour, as well as a wide variety of on-demand content including classic matches and highlights.
These two deals follow the announcement in September that Amazon Prime Video has worldwide streaming rights (excluding China), and the full exclusive video rights in the U.S., outside of Tennis TV, to distribute the Next Gen ATP Finals until the end of 2018. Amazon Prime Video streamed all 16 Next Gen ATP Finals matches during the inaugural men’s 21-and-under showcase, which took place 7-11 November in Milan.
Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, said: “We’re thrilled to work with Amazon across these two agreements, including a landmark U.K. rights deal from 2019, as it marks a pivotal moment in our sport. Our agreement with Amazon allows us to open up a digital space that is only becoming increasingly important in the world of sport & entertainment.”
Mark Webster, CEO ATP Media, commented: “To be able to bring a household name and global brand such as Amazon to the world of tennis is hugely exciting and the move from traditional linear TV to an OTT offering shows tennis remains at the cutting-edge of global sports media.”
“Our goal is to deliver compelling content to Prime members,” said Jim DeLorenzo, Head of Sports, Amazon Video. “We are excited to bring our customers in the U.S., U.K., and Ireland more tennis with the ATP World Tour and Tennis TV.”
Stuart Watts, COO ATP Media, added: “The U.K. deal is a first in the U.K. for sports broadcasting on this scale and we are delighted to work with Amazon to provide more coverage than ever of the very best of the ATP World Tour. The synergies between a global brand such as Amazon, the ATP and ATP Media are clear for all to see, making this an exciting development for us.”
