John McEnroe on Why Djokovic-Murray Partnership Fizzled

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, May 23, 2025
Photo credit: Matthew Calvis

The prospect of Novak Djokovic partnering rival Andy Murray as coach initially struck John McEnroe as a punch line.

Asked to assess the marquee pairing between major champions that ended after the Mutua Madrid Open, McEnroe told the media today he thought the Djokovic-Murray pairing was a joke at first.

In fact, the You Cannot Be Serious author confessed it caused him a case of the giggles.

Former world No. 1 in singles and doubles, McEnroe said the reason the high-profile pairing did not produce a title is simple: Rivals can’t run together.

“When it first happened, I laughed,” John McEnroe told the media on TNT’s Zoom call today to promote the network’s Roland Garros coverage starting Sunday at 5 a.m. Eastern time. “It was like you’ve gotta be kidding me.

“It’s like Lendl coaching me. It’s like come on or Connors [coaching me]—they’re rivals—but it was fun.”

McEnroe, who stepped down as Team World captain in Laver Cup at the end of last year, said he was hoping the Djokovic-Murray collaboration would erupt into full screaming matches as they’ve both castigated coaches in the past.

“It was sort of fun to see what was gonna happen,” McEnroe said. “I gotta admit I was waiting for them to go at it on the sidelines, start screaming at each other because they’ve both respectfully done that to coaches in their careers.”

TNT Sports, the exclusive home of live Roland-Garros coverage in the U.S., said it plans to “provide the most comprehensive coverage in the history of the Parisian Grand Slam.”

McEnroe, Jim Courier and Caroline Wozniacki will be among the network’s top analysts with Andre Agassi and Venus Williams also set to contribute to coverage.

It all starts Sunday, May 25, at 5 a.m. ET on TNT, truTV and Max. TNT Sports will deliver nearly 300 hours of programming across TNT and truTV — all originating live from Paris — along with unprecedented streaming coverage on Max and extensive original content available via Bleacher Report and House of Highlights.

Though the Djokovic-Murray pairing fizzled, McEnroe believes Murray, whose mother Judy Murray was his original coach and went on to captain the British Billie Jean King Cup squad, can be a very formidable coach if he decides to pursue it.

“I believe he would be a good coach—a really good coach because he knows the game inside-out,” McEnroe said of Murray. “If Andy wants to do that, I think he would be a really good coach.

“I can’t tell you right now who I would say he should coach if he were to decide he would want to do that. He’s got four young girls I believe. And he was travelling all the time so I’m guessing he doesn’t want to continue to do that [travel]. It will be interesting to see what he wants to do.”