Strange but true: Djokovic chases 11th Aussie Open crown with Murray as coach
MELBOURNE—Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have known each other for a quarter of a century. They played from the age of 12, meeting 36 times as professionals, including 10 Grand Slam matches. Yet they’ve never been able to talk shop and freely trade all sorts of thoughts—about tennis and otherwise—until now.
That’s because Djokovic got the bright idea to hire the recently retired Murray as his coach, at least through the Australian Open that begins Sunday.
“I must say, at the beginning, it was a bit of a strange feeling to be able to share the insights with him, not just about the game but about how I feel, about life in general,” Djokovic said Friday. “Not in a negative way, but just in a way I have never done that with him, because he was always one of my greatest rivals.
“We were always kind of hiding things from each other. Now all cards are open on the table.”
Unusual pairing
It’s an unusual pairing that caught their sport by surprise in November, after Djokovic called up Murray to check on the possibility of teaming up. Two rivals now on the same side. Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, drew on soccer to try to explain how out-of-this-world this relationship is.
“Imagine,” Medvedev said, “[if Lionel] Messi would become the coach of Cristiano Ronaldo. It would be strange.”
Indeed. It sure is odd to see Murray standing just steps away from Djokovic behind a baseline during practice sessions.
These are, after all, two of the greats of tennis. Djokovic owns a men’s-record 24 Grand Slam titles, including 10 at the Australian Open, and has spent more weeks ranked No. 1 than anyone in history.
Murray also has been No. 1, owns three major singles trophies, was a Slam runner-up eight times—five of those losses in finals coming against Djokovic, including four at Melbourne Park—and is the only player with two Olympic singles gold medals in tennis.
“Could never quite get over the line [in Melbourne], unfortunately. This man was single-handedly responsible for that. So I’m now here to try and sabotage his chances of winning another one,” Murray joked.
“Novak asked me to help him; I was shocked,” said Murray, whose last match as a player came at the Paris Olympics in August. “I was obviously not expecting that when he called.”
