Novak Djokovic ‘couldn’t be more excited’ to have Andy Murray as his coach
Novak Djokovic has detailed the process that led to him approaching Andy Murray to become his new coach, as well as revealing whether he has any retirement plans.
Djokovic had been without a permanent coach since calling an end to his long-term partnership with Goran Ivanisevic back in March.
And last week, the Serbian made the shock announcement that he would be joining forces with his former rival, in what will be Murray’s first role as a coach after retiring from professional tennis at the Paris Olympics.
He never liked retirement anyway. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Ga4UlV2kQW
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) November 23, 2024
Now in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, the 24-time Grand Slam champion has explained how this collaboration came about, “We were going through different names and I realised the perfect coach for me at this point would be someone that has been through the experiences that I’m going through, possible multiple Grand Slam winner, former No.1. I was thinking about different people and then an Andy Murray discussion appeared on the table with me and my team.
“It was still a shock decision. It caught him a little bit off guard as well because he wasn’t expecting it, so we connected really fast and he accepted after a few days.”
He added, “I couldn’t be more excited about it. This collaboration is a surprise to me as well, to everyone. But it’s exciting for tennis. He’s been one of my greatest rivals. We’re the same age. We’ve played in all the biggest stadiums in our sport. So I can’t wait to get out on the court and prepare for next season.”
Murray has been one of many major retirements in 2024, most recently highlighted by Rafael Nadal saying his farewell to the sport at the Davis Cup Finals.
This leaves Djokovic as the only active player remaining from ‘the big three/four’ era, but it does not seem like retirement is on his mind just yet.
“We all know that we all have to stop and say goodbye at some point to what we’ve done all of our lives,” said Djokovic. “Andy and Rafa, we knew that the end was coming. But both of them saying farewell to tennis in the same year, it’s a shock for all of us. It’s a shock for the tennis world because they are legends in our sport.”
The current World No.7 continued, “I still will try to go strong because I feel like my body is serving me well. I still have motivation to win Grand Slams, make more history. That’s one of the biggest reasons why I asked Andy to work with me. Because I still have big plans. So as long as that’s the case, I’ll keep going.
“I don’t have any date in my mind or any result after I achieve it potentially that I’m going to say goodbye and retire. I’ll keep going as much as I feel like I can be one of the candidates for the biggest titles in sport.”
It is not yet clear where Djokovic and Murray’s first tournament together will be, but the 37-year-old has confirmed that he will compete in the first week of the 2025 season leading upto the Australian Open.
Inside the baseline…
Andy Murray being Novak Djokovic’s coach still feels like some sort of fever dream, but there is going to be so much hype for the new season due to this. This year has been Djokovic’s first time without a Grand Slam title since 2017, so the Serbian will no doubt be very hungry to put an end to that and claim a historic 25th Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
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