MURRAY-LENDL REUNION POSSIBLE - MAC
John McEnroe believes Andy Murray may be tempted to bring back his former coach Ivan Lendl after crashing out of Wimbledon.
Lendl and Murray parted company in March, ending a highly successful partnership that turned the Scot from a grand slam nearly man to a two-time champion.
Amelie Mauresmo has since come in on a temporary basis since the French Open last month and Murray has suggested he would like the Frenchwoman to stay on as part of his team.
Talks with France's Fed Cup coach over that possibility are set to take place in the coming weeks, and McEnroe suggested Murray should continue to work with the 34-year-old, who won Wimbledon in 2006 and last year coached Marion Bartoli to the women's title.
But the three-time Wimbledon champion would not be surprised if Murray looked back on the combination that brought him such huge success and thought it could be revived.
Lendl left his post by mutual agreement after deciding he could not give as much time to the job as Murray wanted.
"I'm amazed he ever got rid of Lendl in the first place," McEnroe said.
Murray has offered no hint that he could be reunited with his former coach, but McEnroe said on BBC2: "I wouldn't put it past the two of them.
"I think it would still be possible and possibly profitable for both of them.
"For the defending champion not to have Ivan back, almost from a superstitious standpoint you would keep the team the same
"Having said that, I would give Amelie more of a chance. You can't expect her to do anything now. But lurking in the background..."
McEnroe added: "I think Mauresmo's done an excellent job coaching other people. There's no reason to suggest she can't do a good job coaching Murray.
"It would be unfair to her to fire her and decide not to do it, because there's nothing you can do right before Wimbledon, when you're trying to defend your title."
Murray's straight-sets defeat to Grigor Dimitrov was a lacklustre way to sign off in his defence of the title.
McEnroe claimed victory meant more to Dimitrov, who in his first grand slam semi-final will take on top seed Novak Djokovic, than it would have to Murray.
"It's a classic case of a hungrier guy that wanted it more against a guy who just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, didn't seem to have the energy," the 55-year-old American said.
"He didn't mail it in, in the third set, but he didn't ever look like he believed he could physically do it at that stage."
Tim Henman expects Murray to come back strongly from his setback.
But former British number one and four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Henman is also tipping Bulgarian rising star Dimitrov to be a fixture at the top of the game for years to come after his 6-1 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 win.
Dimitrov was tactically dominant and dictated play, with Henman confident Murray will be looking at where his own game fell short.
"He was obviously trying to find different solutions to the conundrums out there but he wasn't able to do it," Henman said.
"It will be a match he will reflect on in the coming days and weeks and he'll learn from it and I'm sure he's got many more opportunities here in the future."
Henman added: "Andy didn't play very well and his opponent took full advantage and congratulations to Dimitrov because he is another future star - he's a present star now but he's one of these young, up-and-coming players who's going to be around for a very, very long time."
Two-time former Wimbledon champion Jimmy Connors was excited to see Dimitrov in such rich form as he demonstrated, but felt Murray gave him the opportunity to build momentum.
"I thought at the beginning he looked a little flat, but all credit to Dimitrov, the way he played," American Connors said.
"He was eager, he was on top of his game and he was in full flight in my opinion.
"It's been interesting the last couple of days to see the young guys come out: they expect to win and they're playing the type of tennis that allows them to go forward, and to start making their name here on this Centre Court at Wimbledon, and it's been fun to watch."
