Andy Murray is hoping the appointment of a new coach can help him make a major breakthrough after revealing a difference of opinion was behind this week’s split with Miles Maclagan.
The world number four announced the end of his two and a half years with Maclagan on Tuesday.
It is believed the former Great Britain Davis Cup player was unhappy with the involvement of Alex Corretja as a part-time coaching consultant.But Murray considers the Spaniard a valuable part of his team and it was Maclagan who ended up leaving his post.
Murray said: “It obviously was a hard decision and one that wasn’t the nicest thing to have to take. It wasn’t that tough to make up my mind because we were quite far apart in what we thought.
“Between the three of us, we obviously had different ideas and different ways of seeing things – what I felt was beneficial to me and what Miles and Alex felt was beneficial to me.”
The timing is not ideal, with Murray preparing for the American hard-court stretch leading up to the US Open, which he considers his best chance of grand slam success.
The Scot changed his plans, cutting short his training block in Miami and accepting a wild card into the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles this week.
It has been a strange season for the British number one, who began the year by reaching his second grand slam final at the Australian Open before a slump that continued all the way until Wimbledon.
Murray’s run at the All England Club was a welcome turnaround in form but the straight-sets loss to Nadal in a match in which he did not play at all badly would have given him plenty of food for thought.
The 23-year-old is desperate to break his major duck and is hopeful a change of coach can help him get closer to world number one Nadal and 16-time grand slam champion Roger Federer.
Murray said: “The last few years have gone very, very well but I want to try to get to number one in the world and try to win grand slams.
“I don’t think I need to make huge changes in my game. I just need to become a better player all around.
“I need to get better.
“Hopefully by getting a new coach and a new coaching team in place that will help me do that and achieve my goals.”
Australian Darren Cahill, who is a former coach of Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt, has already been linked with the post as Murray searches for the fourth coach of his professional career after previously working with Mark Petchey and Brad Gilbert.