Novak Djokovic is almost ready to make his debut in the 2025 season. The former world number 1 will be the top favorite at the Brisbane International, where he will immediately have the opportunity to face very insidious opponents to test his condition.
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The Serbian legend has high expectations for 2025, which must be the year of his rebirth, otherwise the hypothesis of retirement would start to become very concrete. At nearly 38 years old, Nole can't settle for a secondary role and is doing everything he can to make sure he becomes competitive again.
Novak shocked the whole world a few weeks ago, announcing that he had hired his former rival Andy Murray as coach for the 2025 Australian Open. The details of the collaboration between these two legends are not known, but the curiosity of fans and insiders is truly enormous.
The former Scottish champion who lost to Djokovic in four different finals in Melbourne has no experience in this role, but his intelligence and adaptability will be very useful to the 24-time Grand Slam champion in certain situations. The current world number 7 needed a shake-up after a season below expectations, saved only by the epic triumph at the Paris Olympics during the summer. On that occasion, Djokovic showed that he can still be competitive at the highest level if he is really motivated.
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The ranking is no longer a priority for Nole, who will focus only on the Major tournaments and the Davis Cup. At the same time, the Serbian knows that he has to play more tournaments to get to 100% fitness and has promised that his schedule'll be different in 2025. After the Australian Open, his presence at the prestigious Doha ATP 500 in February has already been announced. Novak'llalso participate in this tournament for commercial reasons, having recently signed a partnership with Qatar Airways.
An intriguing collaboration
In a long interview with Tennis365, British star Jodie Burrage commented on Djokovic/Murrays partnership: It'llbe very interesting to see what it is like for Andy to coach Novak. Next time I see him, I might jokingly ask if he wants to coach me, but he might be a bit too expensive for me!
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Andy has been so open and friendly to all the British players in recent years and we have all learned something from him.
He has been such an inspiration as a player, so lets see how he gets on as a coach.
The main goal of a legend like Nole is to win the 25th Major title of his iconic career. The former world No.1'llalso have to hope for a favorable draw at Melbourne Park, but the most important thing will be his level of play during the two weeks. The two Grand Slam tournaments in which Novak has the best chance of prevailing are certainly the AO and the Wimbledon Championships, while his triumph in Paris or New York is unlikely for different reasons.
Two huge obstacles
His main obstacles are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who are much younger than him and have no reverential fear. The feeling is that Djokovic struggles more against the Italian than against the Spaniard at this stage of his career. The Spaniard can reach impressive peaks such as in the final of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, but he has more drops during the season. Jannik - on the other hand - seems to be a younger version of Nole himself. We'llsee if Murray will be able to give him useful advice to surprise these two young champions.
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During an interview with Reem Abulleil for The National, Grigor Dimitrovs coach Daniel Vallverdu discussed Murrays potential impact on Noles game: From my perspective I cant wait to see the outcome and I cannot wait to see how that relationship develops.
You never know obviously what the results will be but my sense is that it will be a very fruitful and positive partnership and a very positive coach-player relationship with great results.
Im expecting Novak to have an incredible season and to have really good results. I think Andy will bring huge value and it will become a team where they will feel, okay, we the older guys are now having to take on the younger generation with all our knowledge. And knowing them both, they will give everything they have to try and achieve all of Novaks goals. So it will be very special to watch and I cannot wait.
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As already mentioned, Djokovic's season will start in Brisbane (where he will also play doubles together with Australian ace Nick Kyrgios).
