Everyone is wondering what Andy Murray's impact will be on Novak Djokovic's game. Their collaboration has aroused the interest of insiders, former players and fans, who did not expect such news.
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Nole's decision has left everyone speechless and seems a risky move, but perhaps necessary to find the right motivation in what could be his last year at the highest level. The Serbian legend has experienced a tough 2024 in terms of results, which have not been up to par with a player of his caliber.
The former world No. 1 can still be satisfied with winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, which was his main goal, but in the rest of the season he struggled as he had hardly ever done during his glorious career.
The 37-year-old from Belgrade has not won a single title in 2024, has reached only two finals (at Wimbledon and Shanghai), and has plummeted to seventh place in the ATP rankings. The 24-time Grand Slam champion certainly needed a shake-up and his choice to hire Murray as a coach responds to this precise need.
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The former Scottish champion who retired from professional tennis at the Paris Olympics this summer has accepted the offer of his friend and former rival, but it is unclear how long their partnership will last. The two legends will be together at the 2025 Australian Open, in which the Serbian will try to win his 25th Major title.
A dream collaboration
In a long interview with Tennis Majors, 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych expressed his point of view about this strange partnership: Honestly, this is a very unique thing. I really want to see that in Australia.
Obviously, I know both of them very well from my experience on the court. The pairing of two in our sport is something that never happened. But these two guys being on the same side will be really interesting to watch.
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He also added: Honestly, Im very lucky to have played against them and now to be able to see them on the same side of the court and Andy in the box.
Who knows how that might work? But Im sure that they have all the pedigrees to make it happen.
I was part of that generation, but I was still the one trying to reach them, trying to beat them occasionally. But they were really one the closest rivals, and now theyre going to be in the same team.
I know them and the amount of professionalism that they have, so Im really not worried that this wont work. But really, it will be very interesting to see the chemistry between them.
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An important test
Andy will hardly be able to travel for many weeks a year, having a beautiful family and being the protagonist of a theatrical tour in the summer of 2025. The most likely hypothesis is that the 3-time Grand Slam champion follows Nole only in the most prestigious events on the calendar, such as the Major tournaments. Murray knows very well all the opponents that Djokovic could face at Melbourne Park, which is why he can help him better manage some situations during the most important matches.
The main goal of the Serbian legend is to return to win a Grand Slam title and to succeed in this feat he will have to defeat Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The Italian and the Spaniard have become the two points of reference on the men's tour in the last year and their gap to Novak has certainly increased.
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The 24-time Grand Slam champion has struggled against these two young champions in recent months and expressed the need to change something in his game. Nole loves a challenge and will do everything he can to shock the whole world for the umpteenth time. The 2025 AO will already be an important test for him, as it is one of his favorite tournaments ever where he has triumphed ten times.
His 2025 will already begin at the Brisbane International, where he will play both singles and doubles together with Australian ace Nick Kyrgios (who will return to the tour after almost two years of absence).
On the latest edition of Andy Roddicks podcast, John McEnroe discussed Djokovic-Murrays collaboration: "I'm happy. I mean I'm sure this is going to be an extremely short-lived, but for tennis, the interest that it brings to it hopefully around the world.
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The American legend continued: "In a way I'm hoping Djokovic wins it, because Murray needs some more positive vibes.
And he certainly knows Novak, and they both train exceptionally hard, and Novak's always thinking a step ahead of everyone, coming up with these crazy ideas.
