IVAN Lendl probably wouldn’t take too kindly to being described as middle-aged, but with the advancing years comes experience, and as he begins a second stint with Andy Murray, the former world No 1 may just have shown how canny he is.

Considering the dominance of Novak Djokovic, the task facing Lendl might seem to be even tougher than it was first time around, but little more than two years after their first spell ended – a spell that brought Murray’s first two grand slam titles and an Olympic gold medal – Lendl is back.

Getting Murray over the line in grand slams will probably require getting the better of Djokovic, who denied him in the finals of the Australian Open and French Open.

But as he considered his return in a quiet moment at London’s Queen’s Club, Lendl said that if anything, things this time should be more straightforward than before.

“I think it’s a very different position this time,” he said. “Until you win one [a grand slam] you never know you have it in you.

“We know he has it in him now, so the question is can he do it again? I think that’s an easier question to answer than, ‘Can you do it at all’?”

In their time apart, during which Andy Murray hired Amelie Mauresmo, used Jonas Bjorkman and eventually brought Jamie Delgado on board, Lendl worked with the United States’ best junior players.

As mischievous as ever, Lendl has been teasing (or abusing, depending on your point of view) everyone behind the scenes, as if he’d never been away.

The arrival on the coaching scene, for a while at least, of his old adversary John McEnroe may have inspired his return, while he’s been welcomed back by one of his old adversaries, Boris Becker.

Becker has been a signif-icant factor into making Djokovic even more dominant and Lendl knows it will take something special to stop the Serb from winning at Wimbledon and everywhere else this year.

“To me in tennis there is a career grand slam, four in a row, the calendar year grand slam and golden slam and he has a chance to do that this year,” Lendl said. “Obviously Andy and I would like to ruin those plans if we can.”

First up, though, Murray has to take care of the British No 2, Aljaz Bedene, in the second round at Queen’s.

Murray has taken Bedene under his wing in the past 18 months, training with him and generally making him feel a part of the furniture.

Bedene beat Benoit Paire in round one and now has the chance to show his skills. “I’m just going to try to play my best tennis and show myself, basically,” he said.

If Kyle Edmund can beat Paul-Henri Mathieu today, then Britain would have two quarter-finalists for the first time since 2002, when Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski were plying their trade.

Edmund enjoyed the best win of his career, in terms of ranking, when he took out Frenchman Gilles Simon in three sets yesterday.