Andy Murray has joked he’ll attempt to ‘sabotage’ Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open dreams from the inside after teaming up with his old rival.
The Scottish tennis legend shocked the sport when he announced he was going to coach the fiery Serbian as he chases a record-extending 25th Grand Slam crown. But speaking after an exhibition match against Alexander Zverev on Thursday, Muzza quipped he plans to thwart Djokovic’s chances of claiming another title as revenge for his own past woes at the tournament.
“I played here a few times, could never quite get over the line unfortunately,” Murray said, gesturing towards Djokovic and adding: “This man is single-handedly responsible for that. I’m now here to try and sabotage his chances of winning another one.”
When quizzed on how he came to work with Djokovic, the five-time runner-up in Melbourne revealed that he had to run it by his wife before agreeing. The Dunblane-born star said: “We exchanged a few messages and got on a call. We had a long chat. Novak asked me to help him. I was shocked, I was obviously not expecting that when he called.
“I said: ‘Look, I’m going to have to ask my wife and see what she says’. She was very supportive of it. It’s a unique opportunity and we thought we’d give it a go and see if I could help.”
Djokovic himself confessed that he ‘begged’ Murray, 37, to come on board, adding: “The way it happened is that I begged him. I said: ‘Andy, please be my coach’. Then we agreed and we spent a good eight or nine days preparing in December.
“He advised me that he’s going to have a family ski trip and it’s going to be the first time he’s going to get on the skis. I grew up on the mountain, I come from a family of skiers. So yeah, I was worried and I said: ‘Andy, please come in one piece to Australia’.”