Late last year, when Novak Djokovic announced a partnership with Andy Murray as his coach, the entire tennis world looked forward to their widely celebrated stint together. However, things didn’t pan out the way Djokovic and Murray would’ve liked. In their time together, Djokovic failed to win a title and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, his best result with Murray by his side. Within just six months, the two ended their partnership, as Djokovic looked for a fresh restart after a poor start to the season. On the other hand, for Murray, it was a precious lesson learned.
The Brit had just retired last year from his professional playing career and aspires to be a top coach. Although he took up coaching an elite star first-up, Murray feels that he should turn to young stars next. Recently, he was involved in an interview with The Tennis Mentor, during which he opened up about his coaching debut with Djokovic and the path ahead for him.
Murray revealed, “I think, first of all, you learn a lot about your weaknesses. It’s very different being a player and a coach, which I expected. Obviously when you’re working with someone at that level, it probably shows your strengths but also your weaknesses as a coach. And something I’d say most ex-players are sort of weak at is the technical side of the game. And at times, you know, Novak was looking for a lot of technical feedback, and it was something I didn’t really feel comfortable with.”
Novak Djokovic of Serbia (R) shakes hands with Andy Murray of Great Britain(L) after winning during their tennis match on the final match at the Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, capital of Qatar, on January 07, 2017. Novak Djokovic won the title 2-1 (Xinhua/Nikku) (Photo by Xinhua/Sipa USA)
However, Murray knows that he can use his experience to coach young players, where he can provide more inputs. He went on to add, “Like, one in terms of how to teach somebody technique, I think that coaches that work with younger players are used to doing that are actually stronger than a lot of the coaches that work on Tour. Because once a player is sort of 20, 22 years old, you’re not trying to overhaul their game and technique. It’s like little changes here and there. So that was something I definitely—if I was going to coach again in the future—I’d want to work on and learn from someone who’s very good at that.”
Meanwhile, Djokovic admitted that the results with Murray weren’t the ones that they had hoped for. However, it was a mutual decision to split and Djokovic admitted to continuing to have a good relationship with him.
What did Novak Djokovic say about the split with Andy Murray?
The two spent enough time behind the scenes trying to build strategies and sneak out wins, although Djokovic was clearly past his best. However, the two teamed together to win titles but Djokovic didn’t have the best of starts to the year. With his barren run continuing, the two felt that it was time to separate after working together for six months.
Talking about the split, Djokovic said, “It was mutual. We both wanted to have a call and to speak, so we—actually, we both were on the same page. So it was not, you know, his initiative or my initiative. It was both of us coming together and just saying, you know, I think we should stop here. That’s what it was.”
Djokovic is now coached by Dušan Vemić, who is the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s countryman and a former professional tennis player. Djokovic reached the semifinals of the recently concluded Wimbledon Championships before losing against the eventual champion, Jannik Sinner, in the last four.
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