Andy Murray to coach Novak Djokovic at the 2025 Australian Open
Andy Murray retired following the 2024 Olympic games in Paris but is already back on the court – this time as a coach for his once great rival Novak Djokovic.
alex-headley
Alex Headley
28 November 2024 16:08 BST
Andy Murray to coach Novak Djokovic at the 2025 Australian Open
The first professional match between the pair was at the Madrid masters in 2006 (Clive Brunskill- getty images)
Novak Djokovic’s announcement to employ Andy Murray as his coach for the 2025 Australian Open came as a huge surprise in the sports world.
One of tennis’s greatest rivalries that dates back 18 years took a shock twist last week when Andy Murray, who retired in the summer, revealed his comeback to the sport.
The Scotsman will be aiming to coach Djokovic to his first Grand Slam title since the 2023 US Open. Djokovic endured one of the most difficult seasons of his career in 2024, failing to win a major title for the first time since 2017.
Despite the Serbian’s inability to increase his record amount of male’s Grand Slam titles (24), 2024 still proved to be a significant year for him, as he finally triumphed in the Olympic Games – the championship that eluded him for his entire career. This meant he completed the illustrious ‘golden slam’, consisting of the Olympic gold medal and all four Grand Slam titles.
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The 37 year old is showing no signs that retirement is imminent. However, he did highlight his frustration over his recent display in the US Open, where he got knocked out in the third round, stating, “I’ve played some of the worst tennis I have ever played.”
Clearly, this implied that a fresh start was due and the player that many fans consider to be the best of all time decided to reunite with one of his greatest competitors and work with him to reignite his pursuit of success.
Murray and Djokovic have showcased some of tennis’s most iconic matches
In total, the pair have met 36 times in professional singles, ending in a 25-11 aggregate to Djokovic.
It seems as though Djokovic restricted Murray more so than any other player from becoming one of the definitive all time greats. This is because the Serbian was responsible for five of Murray’s eight Grand Slam final defeats.
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Murray progressed to 11 major finals in total, meeting Djokovic in seven, of which he only won 2. Despite the intense rivalry on court, the duo were always renowned to have a great relationship elsewhere, influenced by the mutual respect gained from so many gruelling encounters. This rapport may be pivotal in guiding Djokovic back to the very peak of his game.
How can Djokovic create more history?
It seems as though Djokovic has already surpassed the holy grail in tennis with his vast array of incredible achievements, which raises the question: why continue?
The Australian Open specifically is his most successful major tournament, having been crowned the winner ten times. The current record held for winning the same major on the most occasions is 14 French Open titles by Rafael Nadal. This means Djokovic will have to play into his forties to have any chance of matching or exceeding this feat. But, with the amount records broken by the Serbian already and millions of doubters he proves wrong every year, who would put it past him.
When Djokovic claimed victory in the French Open in 2023, it meant he became the first man in history to have won each Grand Slam title at least three times. If he were to repeat his Roland Garros success in 2025, it means he will expand this monumental accomplishment, further emphasising his ability to perform on all surfaces. If this were to happen, it will be extremely difficult to argue that he is not the undisputed greatest ever, for those who don’t consider him to be that already.
What does Djokovic need to improve on?
With the expertise of Murray to guide him, Djokovic will be desperate to rectify the careless mistakes that saw him lose to 28th seed Alexei Popyrin in the US Open third round in August.
The world number seven committed a career high 49 unforced errors along with 14 double faults at the tournament played on the same hard court surface as the upcoming Australian Open.
Murray’s serve was recognised as one of his superior attributes during his playing career and this will no doubt be an aspect Djokovic’s game that will need to be improved on if he is to progress to the latter stages of this competition once again.
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The three time Grand Slam winner and two time Olympic Gold medalist said he was “looking forward to spending time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change.”
This combination of esteemed success will heavily boost Djokovic’s aim to bridge the gap between himself and Janik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz – the men who have each shared two majors since Djokovic’s last. The latter of whom beat the Serbian in two consecutive Wimbledon finals.
This will be an eagerly anticipated new chapter in Djokovic’s career and a very exciting way to kick start the 2025 season.
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