JOHN McENROE SAYS that Andy Murray needs to project a more positive attitude to opponents if he is to ever win a Grand Slam.

The Scot was dumped out of the French Open at Roland Garros by David Ferrer in four sets, with Murray frequently clutching at his back, which had been giving him difficulty throughout the tournament.

McEnroe has been critical of Murray’s tendency to shout at his support team during matches and let his shoulders drop, but the 25-year-old has been working on that side of his game with new coach Ivan Lendl.

He appeared to make massive strides when pushing Novak Djokovic all the way in the Australian Open Final, but he has since seen the Serb, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer pull away from him again.

“He’s got an interesting dilemma, because with Lendl, I’m sure he didn’t get hired to get berated like the other coaches were,” McEnroe said to the Daily Telegraph.

“So he doesn’t quite know how to answer this, I’m guessing, because he used to seemingly fire coaches while the match was going on.

“He’s figuring out a way how to handle this. He’s worked exceptionally hard but, as unbelievable amount of effort as I have heard he’s put in in a lot of ways, it hasn’t really paid off in the way people expected.

“So that’s got to be frustrating. If anything, people are saying the gap is getting bigger, not smaller. So time is becoming of the essence.

“It almost seems like he’s just got to get that mental part of it where he’s got to forget about it. ‘I don’t care if my back is hurt, I’m not going to show it.’

“It can work against some guys, I guess, but it’s not going to work against the best guys. That’s what he’s got to think about if he’s going to win slams. These guys are tough to beat, really tough.”

For more on this story, check out the Daily Telegraph’s website >