JOHN McENROE was shocked when Andy Murray named Ivan Lendl as his new coach.

But he believes his old rival may prove the missing ingredient the Scot needs to take his career to the next level.

World No.4 Murray has been runner-up in three Grand Slam finals, including at the last two Australian Opens, but has been blown away in them all, continuing Britain's long wait for a men's champion in the sport's four major tournaments.

He enlisted the help of eight-times Grand Slam winner Lendl last week, and the initial results looked promising with Murray winning his opening tournament of the year in Brisbane at the weekend.

"I hate to give credit to Lendl but Murray needed to do something out of the ordinary instead of going with the predictable re-tread," McEnroe said.

"This is definitely something that was, to me, unexpected. I didn't know that Lendl wanted to coach. He could bring something to the table, without a doubt.

"Lendl didn't win a major until he was 24 and guess what? Murray is 24 right now.

"So that could provide something worth it for Murray, I'm going to be paying attention to that, see how it works out."

McEnroe, who won seven Grand Slam singles titles, had a fierce and unfriendly playing rivalry with Lendl, who he once described as a "scary robot".

Murray, meantime, has been seeded fourth in the Australian Open draw – behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – and will discover who his first-round opponent is when the draw is made on Thursday night.