Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic’s deal as Brit clued in by axed coaches
Andy Murray has admitted he’s bracing himself for Novak Djokovic’s on-court tantrums as the pair join forces for the Australian Open, with the Serb taking on Nishesh Basavareddy in the first round
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Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are teaming up for the Australian Open(Getty Images)
By Fasika Zelealem
12:03, 11 Jan 2025
Andy Murray has confessed he’s ready to weather Novak Djokovic’s fiery tantrums as they kick off their professional partnership at the Australian Open.
The tennis titans are teaming up for their inaugural tournament Down Under, with the Serbian star aiming to boost his collection of 10 Aussie Grand Slam titles as he squares off against American wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy in the opening round.
Djokovic is notorious for his on-court eruptions, often giving his coaches – with whom he maintains a solid rapport – an earful. His fervent passion hasn’t escaped Murray – who has a long history of rivalry with Djokovic – and is perhaps better equipped to handle his emotional flare-ups, as he himself acknowledged.
The Serbian’s former head coach, Goran Ivanisevic, split from Djokovic last year and conceded that being the chief coach of such a high-maintenance individual isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The ex-Wimbledon champ revealed that coaching Djokovic comes with its fair share of stress.
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“Well, when you train Novak Djokovic, anything other than winning the title at any tournament is a failure. That’s a lot of pressure to deal with,” the 53-year-old told Blick. “Novak is very demanding. Something new has to happen every day, he always wants to get better. If you can’t handle it, it’s better not to take the job at all. The language certainly helped me – we had no barrier between us.
“With Novak it’s like this, you only have a few seconds to explain something to him. He then wants to know 15 things from you at once, but you only have three seconds to do it. So you have to try to summarise everything in some clever way. It can be hard, but I enjoyed it with Novak.”
Djokovic’s former fitness coach Marco Panichi – who was part of the coaching team for half of Djokovic’s 24 Grand Slam victories – shed light on his approach to managing the tennis ace’s fiery temperament, reports the Express.
Novak Djokovic and Goran Ivanisevic parted ways last year((Image: Getty))
“You see, we knew that it was nothing personal, we knew that sometimes he needed that (to release his anger) in order to play at his best,” he told Sportal.
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