Andy Murray admits he’s disappointed with how his brief coaching partnership with Novak Djokovic turned out.
The two former rivals shocked the tennis world when they teamed up in November 2024. Nobody saw that coming.
Murray joined Djokovic’s team to help the 24-time Grand Slam champion prepare for the Australian Open. It was supposed to be a fresh start for both of them.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Murray | 38 | 623 | 5 - 10 |
But things didn’t go according to plan.
The partnership lasted just six months before they called it quits in May. They didn’t win a single trophy together during that time.
Now, half a year later, Murray’s opening up about what really happened. And he’s pretty honest about his feelings.
Murray: “I was disappointed”
"I look back on it and I’m glad that I did it. It’s an amazing experience that I’ve had. It didn’t last long but I put everything into it. I was disappointed. Probably didn’t get the results I would have liked for him."
Murray told The Tennis Podcast that he gave it everything he had. But the results just weren’t there.
"It was a good opportunity because I felt I wanted to coach at some stage and if I didn’t take it, I might look back and think it would have been really interesting, I could have learned a lot, or potentially regretted it."
You can understand why Murray took the chance. When would he get another opportunity to coach someone like Djokovic?
What went wrong?
Actually, things started pretty well. Murray helped Djokovic reach the Australian Open semifinal.
But then disaster struck during a brutal quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic got injured and had to withdraw from the semis.
That injury seemed to derail everything.
After Australia, Djokovic’s results went downhill fast. He lost in the first round in Qatar and Indian Wells. Then he made it to the Miami Open final but lost there too.
Two more opening round losses followed. That’s when both sides decided enough was enough.
Here’s the kicker though – Djokovic won the Geneva Open just two weeks after they split. That gave him his 100th career title.
Talk about timing.
The injury changed everything
Murray thinks that Australian Open injury was the turning point.
"It was going well initially and it was unfortunate what happened in Australia with the injury, but I watched him play ridiculous tennis in that tournament."
Before the injury, Djokovic was playing some incredible tennis. Murray could see his influence working.
"After the injury it was certainly a difficult few months for him but also I think for the team and all of us. I learned a lot about what coaching is. I was fully invested, tried my hardest to help, and made some good relationships along the way with his team."
Those few months after the injury sound pretty tough for everyone involved. It’s hard to coach someone when they’re struggling physically and mentally.
But Murray says he learned a lot about what coaching actually involves. It’s different from playing, that’s for sure.
From rivals to teammates
Before becoming coach and player, these two had one of tennis’s great rivalries.
Djokovic dominated their head-to-head 25-11 across 36 matches. That’s a pretty lopsided record when you think about it.
They first played back in 2006 at the Madrid Masters. Djokovic won that one with an amazing comeback – he lost the first set 6-1 but came back to win 7-5, 6-3.
Actually, Djokovic beat Murray in their first four meetings before Murray finally got one back in the Canadian Masters quarterfinals.
At the Grand Slams, it was even more one-sided. Djokovic leads 8-2 in their 10 major meetings.
They faced each other in finals at all four Grand Slams, which is pretty rare. Overall, Djokovic leads Murray 11-8 in tour-level finals.
So Murray definitely knew what he was getting into when he agreed to coach his old rival. Sometimes the best partnerships come from mutual respect, even after years of competition.
The coaching experiment might not have worked out the way either of them hoped. But you’ve got to respect both guys for trying something completely different.
