Who will be Andy Murray's next coach?

Andy Murray: Coach will come from list of 'seven or eight' candidates

Andy Murray is still looking for a new coach after his split from Ivan Lendl last month. Asked when he would like to get the man in place, Murray told BBC Scotland: "Or woman... there's seven or eight people I've got down on a list just now.' The British number one, whose mother Judy is herself a tennis coach, wants to appoint a successor to Ivan Lendl before defending his Wimbledon title. 

Brad Gilbert told BBC Scotland: "Andy will have no shortage of offers. He can take time to figure his next move. I'd say don't rush it." However, Gilbert believes Murray will rediscover his best form again and has plenty of time to mount a challenge for more of the game's top prizes. In two years with Ivan Lendl, Murray won the US Open, Wimbledon and Olympic titles. 

When Andy Murray sits down with his team to sift through the candidates to replace Ivan Lendl as his coach, Bob Brett;s name should be near the top of the list. Ideally, Murray would like to make the appointment before the French Open, which starts on 25 May.

Other candidates include Brett's Australian compatriot Darren Cahill, who still has extensive media obligations and training duties with Adidas, Paul Annacone, who was part of Roger Federer's coaching team until last year, Roger Rasheed (who now looks to be doing a great job with Grigor Dimitrov) and Bob Brett, the former coach of Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic. 

Any future coach also should be able to share Murray's sense of humour, and most curcially to understand the very exclusive world he inhabits. That would not have to be another former Grand Slam champion, although of the few who have not been snapped up, Mats Wilander would be an excellent choice. 

An appointment is not urgent, but Andy Murray is well aware that life at the top of professional sport can be brutally short.