Murray on Why He Partnered Djokovic and Star He’d Dream of Coaching

By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow  | Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Photo credit: Matthew Calvis

Two primary reasons convinced Andy Murray to coach Novak Djokovic.

The two-time Olympic gold-medal champion views the Grand Slam king as “one of the best athletes of all time” and believes coaching Djokovic is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

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In a wide-ranging new interview with Sporting Misadventures with Chris Hoy, Murray shares why he agreed to coach his former rival, the two surprisingly greatest demands he felt coaching the 10-time Australian Open champion at last month’s AO and the one champion he’d dream of coaching.

“I consider [Novak] to be one of the best athletes of all time so to have the opportunity to help him to coach him is something I didn’t feel I could turn down because I might not get that chance [again],” Murray told Chris Hoy on his podcast. “Who knows how much longer he will be playing?”

Though Murray had a well-earned reputation as one of the fittest man in tennis—and one of the most thoughtful and candid champions in interviews—he shared two surprisingly demanding areas that challenged him in his coaching debut Down Under.

Murray said he watched so much video of Djokovic’s opponents, he felt drained and tired from “overpreparing” and said communicating clearly with the 37-year-old Serbian superstar’s entire team was an initial challenge though he felt he improved as the tournament progressed.

“I enjoyed the matches. I enjoyed sitting at the side watching matches from a different perspective,” Murray told Chris Hoy. “I enjoyed the analysis and preparing, planning, the strategy and everything. I really liked that. I also found it very demanding.

“I’m obviously very inexperienced as a coach so there’s lots of things when you’re a player you don’t realize that all coaches are thinking about and having to do. I’m a poor communicator, it’s something I’ve always struggled with but then when you’re part of a team and you’re leading the team it’s really important that you’re communicating well with people and giving them clear direction.

“So I think I did an ok job with that but I found that hard, very demanding. I also did a pretty bad job. I spent way too much time in my room watching videos of tennis and almost like over analyzing matches, like over-preparing a little bit so I found myself getting quite tired.

“I did a better job towards the end of the tournament with that, like this is too much. ‘Give yourself a break, get to the gym, go for a walk, go and hit a few golf balls’. It was a good experience, I learned a lot from it. I found it hard, I found it demanding.”

Delighted to be joined by @andy_murray on the podcast this week to talk retirement, coaching Novak Djokovic, skiing rescues, golf mishaps and plenty more. pic.twitter.com/dzJH8V36LA

— Matt Majendie (@mattmajendie) February 12, 2025

Asked to pick one legendary Big 3 champion he’d dream of coaching at his best, Murray named 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

“That’s a great question; I think probably Roger because I think he is able to do so much with the tennis ball,” Murray said. “[Federer] had so, so many options. To be fair Novak is really good with this as well, which is one reason it doesn’t’ really matter who is coaching those guys provided you’re giving them clear direction…

“I think coaching Roger would have been fun because… he just has all of the shots. So you could ask him to do something and he could do it, essentially.”

Listen to Andy Murray’s complete interview, including his coming-tragic bout of dirrhea while taking a drug test,  on Sporting Misadventures with Chris Hoy here.