Novak Djokovic has revealed Andy Murray was caught “off-guard” after he offered the retired Scottish tennis hero the chance to coach him at the 2025 Australian Open.
The stunning move was confirmed last weekend, as the 37-year-old Serbian ace aims to move ahead of Margaret Court and win a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title. Sky Sports News approached Djokovic in Qatar on Friday ahead of this weekend’s F1 Grand Prix. Djokovic admitted Murray was surprised when he picked up the phone to find his former rival with a coaching offer for him.
“Well, I’ve been going through a process of thinking about next season in the last couple of months and thinking about what I need at this stage of my career because I split with Goran Ivanisevic, who I was very successful with and worked for many years, earlier this year in March,” said Djokovic, who has won a staggering 24 majors.
“I took about six months to really think about if I need a coach and, if yes, who that’s going to be and the profile of the coach. We were going through different names and I realised that the perfect coach for me at this point would be somebody who has been through the same experiences I’m going through, a multiple Grand Slam winner, a former world No 1. And I was thinking about different people and then Andy Murray appeared on the table with me and my team. And I thought ‘OK, I’m going to give him a call and see how it goes.’ It caught him a little bit off-guard as well because he wasn’t expecting it.
“We connected really fast and so he accepted it after a few days and I can’t be more excited about it. This collaboration is a surprise to me, as well as everybody, but it’s exciting for tennis. He’s been one of my greatest rivals, we’re the same age, we’ve played in the biggest stadiums in our sport. And I can’t wait to get out on the court and prepare for next season.”
The Australian Open will take place between Sunday, January 12, 2025 and Sunday, January 26, 2025 at Melbourne Park. Double Wimbledon winner Andy Murray never triumphed at the Aussie tournament, while Novak has 10 wins down under.