Andy Murray can be ‘unbelievable’ for Novak Djokovic, says former coach

Andy Murray will bring value to Novak Djokovic by reminding him what he is great at, says top television pundit Mark Petchy.

Murray retired from playing earlier this year but no one expected him to go immediately into coaching, and even fewer thought that Djokovic would be the player he linked up with if he did.

However, that partnership is now in effect and is one of the most fascinating sub-plots of the 2025 season. Petchy coached a young Andy Murray himself, and he says even he was stunned by the news, but he also thinks it makes an awful lot of sense.

Speaking to Betway, Petchy said: “[I was] surprised like everybody else! I think even Russell Grant in his heyday as a forecaster would have struggled to see that one coming.

“I’ve said it a few times that Andy [Murray]would go into coaching, but I didn’t think in my wildest dreams it would be quite as quickly as this and with Novak [Djokovic]!

“I think it’s awesome for tennis and I think it’s great for both of them in terms of the passion that they bring to the sport and the knowledge that they have.

“It’s going to be fascinating for all of us sitting on the sidelines to see how this partnership is going to work. Sitting here outside the ring looking in at those two, I think it’s going to be a great thing for tennis. It’s already created huge headlines and I think it will create a huge buzz down in Australia.”

He never liked retirement anyway. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Ga4UlV2kQW

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) November 23, 2024

When it comes to Andy Murray and coaching, no one really knows what he is going to bring. So often the great player has struggled to make the transition.

With Djokovic specifically, you need only look at his failed collaboration with Andre Agassi, when a personality clash made for a tumultuous and short relationship.

Petchy, though, thinks Murray’s attention to detail and shared on-court experiences with Djokovic will make for a very natural partnership.

“Andy is unbelievable on the data side,” he said. “He thinks strategically. Everybody understands that he sees the game in a way that is pretty unique and there are only a few players out there who see the game the same way that he does from an IQ point of view. Clearly Novak is one of those.

“So you are looking at a meeting of the minds in terms of how they perceive tennis, how it’s played, the geometry of the court, the understanding of the pressure of the moments, of playing the big points well.

“Nobody’s going to get that as well as Andy does and I think that Novak, at this stage of his career, is clearly looking for somebody that understands those situations and the pressures that he’ll be under. It is very much a meeting in the minds in that regard.

“Where Andy is going to be very strong is reiterating what he found very difficult playing Novak;  that is probably something Novak needs to be reminded of just how difficult he is to beat playing his way.

“There have been times in the season with the emergence of Jannik [Sinner] and Carlos [Alcaraz] that maybe he feels that he needs to make some adjustments in his game that maybe Andy will say, ‘No, when I played you this was almost impossible for me to get through and you need to remember how difficult that is, when you play like this, for me to beat you. It’ll be the same even for people like Alcaraz and Sinner.’

“So, I think there may be a little bit of a trip down memory lane for Novak that Andy can bring to him. It doesn’t need to be a recalibration, but it just needs a reinforcement of just how great Novak is doing the things that he does.”

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