If somebody told Andy Murray 12 months ago that he would retire in July and return to tennis as coach to Novak Djokovic six months later, he would have laughed.
However, that is what has happened to the former British No.1 who at one stage wasn’t thinking of coaching until something happened to him on a golf course. To be specific, on the 17th hole his golf partner asked him if he would be interested in mentoring players, to which Murray responded by saying ‘Honestly, I can’t think of anything worse to do right now.’ Then half an hour after he said this, everything changed when he returned to a call to 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic.
“[Novak] asked if I would be interested in helping, which I obviously wasn’t expecting,” Murray told reporters on Thursday.
“I said to him: ‘Look, I need to think about it and talk to my family.’
“So I spoke to them, and after a couple of days, I thought that it was a pretty unique opportunity and experience.
“I thought it would be a good idea to try it.”
The partnership has made headlines around the world with two former rivals on the court joining forces. They began their work during the off-season at Djokovic’s private residence in Marbella where a 10-day training block took place. Murray was unable to travel to Brisbane for Djokovic’s first tournament of 2025 due to a family holiday but is now in Melbourne.
“It made sense to trial it and see if it works. And then we said we’d make a more definitive decision after the tournament,” said Murray.
Murray is embracing his new role but admits there is plenty to learn. Although he does have the advantage of being a former top player who can relate to the experiences Djokovic goes through on the court. Furthermore, he can share the insight he learned from playing the Serbian 36 times over a 16-year period.
As for his approach to coaching Djokovic, Murray is taking the role seriously.
“At times it’s very enjoyable,” he said. “But high performance is not supposed to be laughs and jokes and messing around. It isn’t about that. In all the time I’ve been on tour, I haven’t seen that from any of the best players in the world. I’ve seen it from some of the lower ranked players, and that’s one of the reasons why they’re not there.
“The best players take it seriously and they want to improve, and it’s not always easy. It’s demanding, but it’s extremely rewarding when you make a breakthrough in a practice and something starts to feel a little bit better. That’s exciting. Obviously I expect when the tournament starts, it is stressful. When you’re trying to achieve great things, it’s not easy. But the rewards at the end of it can be great. And that’s something that I’m looking forward to.”
At the Australian Open, Djokovic will be seeking a record 25th major title which would make him the first player – male or female – to reach this milestone. He also holds the record for the most decorated male player in Australian Open history with 10 trophies to his name.
Seeded seventh in this year’s draw with a potentially tricky route to the final, emotions will be high for the highly-animated Djokovic who sometimes directs his frustration during matches to his team in the stands. Something Murray is happy to embrace as long as the tennis star does one thing.
“Providing that he’s giving his best effort and trying as hard as he can, I’m absolutely fine with him expressing himself how he wants,” he commented.
“I think you have to be very careful with emotional players, to stop them from doing that, or stop them feeling like they’re able to if they need to. Sometimes suppressing everything is also not the right way. I’ve had experiences of that as a player and watched other players.
“The description often of how the players look in those moments is that they look very flat and that’s also not what you want. Obviously there’s a balance to it and as long as he’s giving his best effort, I’m absolutely here for all of that. I’m not wanting anything different.”
Murray believes the key for Djokovic is ‘making small changes’ and helping him improve with his team. Their first test in Melbourne will be against America’s Nishesh Basavareddy, who is a newcomer to full-time professional tennis after forgoing his NCAA credentials. The 19-year-old is currently playing in Auckland, New Zealand where he is through to the semi-finals.
The Australian Open starts on Sunday.
