At first, the news alert felt like a Fool’s Day joke: “Andy Murray to coach Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open,” it read. Murray’s first move after retirement will be a step into the unknown. After taking the time he wanted at home after ending his playing career at the Olympics, he has found the pull of the game too strong to resist. A former rival can appear to be an unlikely ally: Djokovic defeated Murray in four Australian Open finals, now he has appointed a rookie coach to help his bid to win an 11th.
But a new partnership has deep roots. Murray and Djokovic were born a week apart in May 1987 and they met for the first time at the age of 11 playing at a junior tournament in France. A friendship was formed and when they both went to the Australian Open for the first time, in 2006, they played doubles together. A return to Melbourne as player-coach will come 19 years after that first-round exit. “I thought our story may be over. Turns out it has one final chapter,” Djokovic said in a video posted on his social media channels, as he welcomed “one of my toughest opponents” into his corner.
Murray will know he is about to embark on one of his toughest challenges, too. Djokovic has been without a coach since the end of his highly successful partnership with former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, which led to 12 grand slam titles during his remarkably dominant period of his career since turning 30. There were titles, yes, but plenty of “drama” as well. Djokovic would regularly fire himself up by berating Ivanisevic and those around him in his playing box. So much so that the Croat would breathe a sigh of relief when tournaments were finally over. “He’s not an easy guy, let’s put it this way,” he said after Djokovic won the French Open in 2023. “Especially when something’s not going his way. He keeps you stressed, the stress level is always high. It never goes down.”
Murray similarly used his coaches and support team as a way to vent his anger during his playing days, along with mutterings and mumblings to himself at the back of the court. Now in Djokovic’s corner, he will finally understand what it was like to be on the receiving end of such frustration.
Ultimately, though, Ivanisevic understood after working with Djokovic that the 24-time grand slam champion was unique. “Every day you learn something,” he also said. For Murray, the opportunity to see behind the curtain of Djokovic’s extraordinary success, and longevity, is too good to turn down, even if it does mean he begins his coaching journey by going straight into the deep end.
It is not a complete surprise that Murray would go into coaching, far from it. Young British players often speak of the time Murray would give to them at the National Tennis Centre, and Murray had also become something of a mentor to British No 1 Jack Draper. He may still do, but it seemed more logical that Murray would have more to offer as a coach to someone like the 22-year-old Draper, who is attempting to take the next step of his career and compete for grand slam titles after reaching the US Open semi-finals last season. Given Murray’s record of losing his first four grand slam finals before winning the US Open in 2012, it may have even made sense for him to offer guidance to a fellow grafter, not blessed with era-defining skills, such as World No 4 Taylor Fritz.
Instead, Murray’s first coaching experience will be with the most successful men’s player of all time, in what could be his last real shot at winning an 11th Australian Open and 25th grand slam title in Melbourne. There is a temptation to believe there is nothing Djokovic needs to learn now at this stage of his career. He does, though, have two young rivals in Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who are now favoured to beat him in every match they play. Djokovic’s stunning victory over Alcaraz in the Olympics final was his best performance of 2024. But it was also an anomaly, as well as his only title. Sinner won their Australian Open semi-final. Alcaraz thrashed him in straight sets in the Wimbledon final.
Alcaraz’s highest level, over best-of-five, already looks too high for Djokovic – which makes the Olympics final all the more astonishing. Sinner is too consistent, and looks to have inherited some of Djokovic’s traits that were key to his dominance. Perhaps Murray has the answers to the Alcaraz and Sinner puzzle Djokovic now faces – a problem that could be escalated given he will be seeded outside the top four at the Australian Open, and may therefore draw one of Alcaraz or Sinner in the quarter-finals. Murray’s impact may come down to his ability to analyse and read the game from afar.
Djokovic, clearly, believes the presence of his former rival is what he needs. This is no publicity stunt, with Djokovic well aware of his own immortality and the sense time is running out now Rafael Nadal has joined Murray and Roger Federer in retirement. “We played each other since we were boys, 25 years of pushing each other to our limit,” Djokovic said. He needs another level to reach. Can Murray help him there? The Australian Open has found another box-office storyline and the dynamic will be fascinating. But Murray, despite five runners-up appearances, never won the Australian Open. He now has a final shot.
