Andy Murray was one of only two men in the professional era, which began in 1968, to have lost his first four Grand Slam finals — against Djokovic in the 2011 Australian Open, and against Federer three times. The other guy who began 0-4? Ivan Lendl, who just so happens to be Murray’s coach nowadays. Murray’s added aggressiveness is one of the improvements he’s made under the tutelage of Lendl, who sat still for much of the match, eyeglasses perched atop his white baseball hat and crossed arms resting on his red sweater — in sum, betraying about as much emotion as he ever did during his playing days.
“All you can do is keep putting yourself in the position, and keep giving it all you have. If somebody’s that much better than you, that’s too bad, and you go again and try again,” said Lendl, who wound up with eight major titles. “You sit back, try to figure out where you can improve, what you have to improve to beat certain players, and then you go and work on it.”