Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Thursday January 9, 2025 at 1:35 p.m.
On the sidelines of an exhibition match in Melbourne, Novak Djokovic and his new coach Andy Murray looked back on the start of their collaboration.
In a few days, Novak Djokovic will set out to conquer his 25th Grand Slam tournament, in Melbourne where he has already triumphed ten times. For this immense challenge, facing formidable competition led in particular by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the Serbian decided to call on the services of Andy Murray, retired since the Olympic tournament last August. Friday, on the sidelines of an exhibition match between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev (7-6 for the Serb) on the Rod Laver Arena, the two men spoke about their new collaboration on the court. And first of all its genesis. “I was on the 17th hole of a golf course and the guy I was playing with said, ‘What are you going to do now?’ I said, ‘I don’t really know.’ He said, “Do you intend to become a coach?” I said, “Honestly, I can’t think of anything worse to do right now.”. And 30 minutes later I was in the car with Novak on the phone. We had a conversation and he asked me if I was interested in helping him, which I obviously didn’t expect. I was shocked when Novak asked me. I said, “Look, I’m going to have to ask my wife.” It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we thought we’d take a chance and see if I could help,” Murray said.
Murray has never won the Australian Open
When the interviewer reminded the Scot that he had lost his five finals in Melbourne, including four against Novak Djokovic, and was therefore perhaps not the ideal coach to help the Serbian triumph again at the Australian Open, Andy Murray preferred to laugh about it: “Yes, I have played here several times, but I have never managed to cross the line. This man[pointing to Djokovic]is the only one responsible for this situation. I’m now here to try to sabotage his chances of winning another one,” he quipped. In any case, the road is still long until the final in Melbourne, including a possible match against Carlos Alcaraz in quarter-finals and against Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals. It will then be time to see if the “Murray effect” works in the final…
