Murray has the chance to help Djokovic become the sole record Grand Slam winner. The Scotsman should have the knowledge for this; he is not the first coach in his family.
They have spent most of their careers side by side: Andy Murray (left) and Novak Djokovic (right).
Novak Djokovic is always good for a headline. At the end of 2013, the tennis star announced that he was bringing former top player Boris Becker into his box as a supervisor. Becker stayed for three extremely successful years. With the German at his side, Djokovic won six major titles.
But after the triumph in the summer of 2016 in Roland-Garros, the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments that he had not previously won, Djokovic fell into a crisis of meaning and performance. The following autumn he had to hand over the lead in the world rankings to Andy Murray – and Becker had to go.
And it is precisely this Murray who is now supposed to help Djokovic get back on the road to success, as a coach and advisor. Djokovic communicated this commitment via Instagram, saying in the video: “We have played against each other since we were children. We pushed each other to our limits. We have had some epic duels against each other in our sport. They called us game-changers, risk-takers, history-makers. I thought our story together was over. But it turned out that we have a final chapter to write. Welcome to my team, Andy Murray.”
Djokovic and Murray have played against each other 36 times on the ATP tour, and the Serb leads this statistic with 25:11 wins. Seven of these matches took place as part of Grand Slam finals. At the Australian Open in particular, the final pairing between Djokovic and Murray was the classic for a while; Djokovic won all four of these finals. The two were born just seven days after each other in May 1987, Murray being the older.
Murray celebrated his last tournament victory against Stan Wawrinka
Murray said goodbye to the ATP tour at Wimbledon last summer. The Scot had already announced his departure at the beginning of the season. It was said that he wanted to take more care of his wife and their four children in the future.
Murray lives with his family near London. That’s probably why he said at the beginning of the year that his goal was to compete at Wimbledon again this year. But this dernière almost didn’t happen: Ten days before the All England Lawn Tennis Championships, Murray had to have a cyst surgically removed from his back that had caused nerve pain in his right leg. At least it was still enough for a doubles appearance alongside his brother Jamie. After the last match, Andy Murray said on the court: “I would love to play tennis for the rest of my life, but my body doesn’t allow it anymore.” Finally, Murray took part in the Olympic Games in Paris in doubles.
Like Stan Wawrinka, Murray won three Grand Slam titles in his career. But chronic hip problems affected his freedom of movement relatively early on and forced him to undergo several operations. At the Australian Open 2019 he announced his retirement for the first time and was given a tearful farewell by his competitors – before he returned to the tennis tour after the successful operation. In autumn 2019, Murray won his last ATP tournament in Antwerp – with a final victory against Wawrinka.
Andy Murray has coaching in his blood; his mother Judy looked after him for a long time. His wife’s father, Nigel Sears, is also a highly respected coach. The fact that Murray leaves his family alone again after such a short time and returns to the tour shows how stubborn this tennis virus is. Anyone who has ever been part of this circus won’t let go of it so quickly.
Andy Murray retired from tennis last summer. Now he’s back again.
At the turn of the year, Djokovic was still in 7th place in the rankings
Djokovic won a further twelve major titles after separating from Becker and, with his 24th in the US Open in the summer of 2023, joined Australian record holder Margaret Court in the all-time list of winners. But since then he has been unsuccessfully chasing another major title. After all, Djokovic closed the last significant gap in his palmarès with Olympic gold in Paris in the summer.
The second half of the season was rather disappointing for Djokovic. At the US Open he failed in the third round against Australian Alexei Popyrin, which was the earlier time he had failed at one of the four major tournaments in 18 years. He then reached the final in Shanghai – and ended the season early. At the turn of the year he was still in position 7 in the rankings. That’s why people in the scene began to puzzle: Was that it for Djokovic? After Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, will the fourth of the former Big Four soon leave the tennis court?
Not yet. But how much power, how much drama is still in Novak Djokovic? Can Andy Murray push him to his limits again? The young guard around Italian newcomer Jannik Sinner is hungry and courageous. The South Tyrolean crowned his almost perfect season with the Davis Cup title last weekend. He will also be difficult to beat in 2025 – if his pending doping case doesn’t get in his way.
