One of the most shocking news in recent times in tennis was Novak Djokovic appointing Andy Murray as his coach. It’s not so much shocking as in “why”, but more so shocking that it actually happened.
The why can be easily explained, and we’re going to do that in the paragraphs below, but how it happened is pretty interesting. Murray recently retired from the sport and hinted at possibly coaching in the future.
Nobody really expected it to come anytime soon; however, he plunged himself into it quite quickly and in a rather big pressure situation. Novak Djokovic had a pretty lackluster 2024 season where he saw decline in several areas.
This upcoming 2025 season is touted by many as potentially the final one on Tour, so there will be lots of pressure for Murray to deliver. Can he do it though? Well, let’s take a closer look at why this move might actually prove to be a stroke of genius by Djokovic.
A Lack of Motivation
One glaring issue for Djokovic this year was a pretty clear lack of motivation. It might seem bizarre that a player whose career is the byproduct of insatiable motivation might have a lack of motivation, but it’s somewhat normal.
He has won literally everything that you can win and at his age, there are things that simply seem a bit more appealing. The only thing that he truly lacked was the Olympics, and he was very motivated at the event and he won it.
He wasn’t as motivated at some other events and he didn’t win. As a superb self-motivator who pushed himself past a hip surgery, Murray might be the one person to push Djokovic to give it his all one final time to cement that greatest of all time legacy.
Fitness
Djokovic was for much of his career one of the fittest players on tour. While he’s still superbly fit, it does seem like he took a step backward last year when compared to his competition. Some of his much younger rivals might have simply taken a step forward making him look back in comparison, but Djokovic didn’t look as physically impressive anymore.
Murray, for most of his career, was known as a supremely fit player who could play for hours. Even in the past few years when his body slowed down comparatively, Murray still remained supremely fit.
His offseason workouts are legendary, especially the one he had before the 2023 season which was a three-week grind set in Florida. If the Brit could push Djokovic for one final brutal offseason, the Serbian might just come out swinging.
If Djokovic recalls some of his previous fitness acumen, watch out because the tennis is still pretty crisp.
Tactics
One area for which Murray was highly respected is the tactical side of tennis as he was generally considered one of the best players in this regard. Just listen to some of his old post-match pressers!
Djokovic is no stranger to fantastic tactics as he is one of the tactically sharpest players of all time. However, as it’s sometimes so simple: two minds can work better than one mind. Murray never had a signature shot. His forehand wasn’t legendary, his backhand wasn’t legendary, his serve wasn’t legendary, and yet he was superbly good. Why? Tactics.
As Djokovic’s 2024 season showed, the Serbian has slowly started to struggle with some notable players such as Sinner and Alcaraz. If he can outsmart them tactically though, he can make up for the physical part of the game which is generally on their side.
Both of them have bigger weapons than Djokovic, but they lack tactical acumen compared to Djokovic. Boosted with another amazing tactician in his corner in Murray, Djokovic might just become an even better strategist on the court which could tip the balance back in his favor.
Experience
It might sound banal to title this section experience, speaking about coaching on the ATP tour, but it’s truly so. Djokovic has likely started to experience some minor physical decline and that’s something that can be tough for a player to accept.
Murray has unfortunately, for his career, had a very long time dealing with that. His career took a turn for the worse back in 2018 but he was able to keep himself playing on a decent level for six more years.
With that experience, the Brit might just be uniquely equipped to help Djokovic in the final phase of his career. Nobody really knows for how much longer the Serbian will play, but if he plays for two more years, the British player might just be the person who could give him the most insight into how that might look like.
In that sense, he might just be the right fit, as he spent six years battling physical decline, successfully resisting calls for retirement for a couple of years.
