By Malcolm Folley Last updated at 2:08 AM on 27th March 2011
Troubled tennis star Andy Murray was urged by former Davis Cup captain John Lloyd last night to add an experienced coach to his back-up team or risk failing to fulfil his potential.
After Murray's latest setback, a humiliating defeat at the hands of American journeyman Alex Bogomolov Jnr in Miami on Friday night, Lloyd said Murray should consider appointing a coach from a shortlist of Australians Darren Cahill and Bob Brett, Sweden's former world No 1 Mats Wilander or American superstar Jimmy Connors.
Lloyd said: 'Cahill and Brett are proven coaches, having between them masterminded success for Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt and Goran Ivanisevic.
In need of help: Andy Murray's form has been woeful'Wilander and Connors are great champions with undeniable knowledge of what it takes to win majors.
'Andy has to ask himself how badly he wants to fulfil his dream. If he is as determined to win a Grand Slam as we believe him to be, then he has to hire a coach with experience and maturity to ensure that his undoubted talent is rewarded.
'Men like Cahill, Brett, Wilander and Connors come with a price-tag, but with Andy's income running into millions, surely he can see the positive benefits of spending $400,000 a year on a coach. He has to be bold and make someone an offer he cannot refuse.
'He clearly needs someone around him to drive him. Of course, Andy is his own boss but, from the outside, you can't see how his camp is right.'
During his alarming decline since he appeared in the Australian Open final two months ago, Murray has been reliant on coaching advice from his friend, Dani Vallverdu, who has no experience in the cauldron of professional tennis, and Spaniard Alex Corretja, a runner-up twice in the French Open who works with Murray part-time.
Humiliated: Murray was left with plenty to ponder after losing to Alex Bogmolov Jnr (right)Murray's defeat was his third pitiful performance since he left Melbourne. If he does not treat it as an alarm call for change, he risks being accused of being blind to the mounting evidence of a looming crisis.
He has now lost nine sets in a row, being beaten in succession by Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final, Marcos Baghdatis and two American qualifiers, Donald Young and Bogomolov, on the hard courts he likes the most.
Last week, he hailed the return of Vallverdu, who played collegiate tennis in America and Davis Cup for Venezuela, after five weeks away from him, as the panacea to his problems.
'It's important to have a constant figure who is there all the time,' said Murray.
Tim Henman, who carried the expectations of the British public before Murray, said last week: 'I feel Andy needs support, but should he get a full-time coach? It's horses for courses. With Andy's personality, there's no point employing a coach just for the hell of it if he's not going to listen.'
Lloyd added: 'Andy needs to think hard about his future as we know he has the talent.'
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