Hiring a coach is not an exact science. There is no single foundational principle that guides athletes through this process and there is no overarching hypothesis against which a coach’s worth can be tested. It’s more abstract, less quantifiable.
In an individual discipline like tennis, it is all the more difficult. There is a need for personalities to match, and cohesion, trust and mutual respect are non-negotiable. If anything, luck often plays an outsized role in zeroing in on the right person.
Anticipated storyline
Against this backdrop, how does one look at the Novak Djokovic-Andy Murray combination? The mouthwatering — at least on paper — player-coach partnership will debut at the Australian Open, the season’s first Grand Slam tournament, that gets underway on Sunday, and is already one of the most anticipated storylines going into Melbourne.
Born a week apart in May 1987, the Serb and the Brit have known each other since childhood. And for two years in 2015-16, when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were off pace, theirs was men’s tennis’ pre-eminent rivalry, featuring 12 clashes, nine of them in finals, including three at the Majors.
Murray is a three-time Slam champion, eight-time runner-up and former World No. 1. In fact, the 37-year-old was an active player — though far diminished from his glory days — until August 2024. It is perhaps this pedigree, champion mentality and intricate knowledge of the ever-shifting sands of modern-day tennis that prompted Djokovic to turn to Murray.
Forging a weapon: Djokovic has had success picking coaches. He struck gold with Goran Ivanisevic, who helped him master the art of clutch serving. | Photo credit: Getty Images
At 37, Djokovic is in the last leg of his career. The 24-time Major winner hasn’t won a Tour-level title since November 2023 and is in the midst of his worst run at the Slams since 2016-18 when he went eight events without a trophy. He is entering the Australian Open — a title he has acquired a whopping 10 times — ranked No. 7 in the world. Starting 2008, the year of his first triumph Down Under, only once before has Djokovic touched down in Melbourne ranked outside the top-five — in 2018 when he lost in the round of 16.
Djokovic is also the last man standing from the famed ‘Big Three’ era, hoping to delay the inevitable takeover of the sport by the scintillating duo of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. As the sport gets younger, taller and more powerful — Djokovic is four years older than the second oldest man in the top-10, Grigor Dimitrov, and doesn’t have a height advantage against six of the 10 best players — he needs fresh solutions if he is to overhaul Margaret Court’s 24-Slam count.
“He [Murray] has a unique perspective on my game as one of the greatest rivals that I’ve had,” Djokovic told atptour.com. “He knows the pros and cons of my game and has also played until recently. So he knows all the other best players, the youngsters, and their weaknesses and strengths. I love talking to him about the nuances, the details, how I can improve, how I can gain an inch, more court positioning, compared to my opponent. And every percentage counts at the highest level.”
Picking them right
What gives hope is the Serb’s own record in picking coaches. Of course, during his previous slump (2016-18), he flirted with Andre Agassi for roughly a year and sought philosophical answers to his on-court travails from a quasi-spiritual guru Pepe Imaz. But outside of these, his association with coach Marian Vajda has been long-standing, and he struck gold with German legend Boris Becker and Croat Goran Ivanisevic.
Becker had a hand in Djokovic securing six Majors while Ivanisevic helped him bag 12. These appointments, when initially announced, seemed to defy conventional logic, for Becker and Ivanisevic were predominantly attacking players and Djokovic a defensive baseliner.
However, over time, their imprints were visible in Djokovic’s progress. In the presence of Becker, he improved his forecourt skills a great deal, with his low volleys standing out. With Ivanisevic in tow, Djokovic bettered his serve immeasurably and also mastered the art of clutch serving. It was no surprise that from 2011 to 2024, Djokovic reached 10 Wimbledon finals and succeeded in seven of them.
“Andy is a student of the game, both in terms of tactics, and health and fitness,” said Australian doubles great Todd Woodbridge. “He is infatuated with tennis. Andy will look at all the data and he’ll provide all the statistics to put into the tactics of every match.
“Him joining up with Novak is not just fascinating, but a smart decision from Novak, because who else can coach Novak? He has done everything more than any other person. You put Andy in there, who has won Wimbledon, US Open, Olympics and Davis Cup… he understands the stretch, the pressure and what Novak needs now because he has just been through it.”
Intersecting lives: Born a week apart in May 1987, Murray and Djokovic have known each other since childhood. A friend who can help him pick the right piece to complete a complex jigsaw may be just what Djokovic needs. | Photo credit: Getty Images
But such seemingly straightforward fixes can also fail; Djokovic’s own association with Agassi is a prime example. After he won the 2016 French Open and became the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Majors at once, Djokovic experienced a severe lack of motivation. Agassi couldn’t bail him out despite having overcome the feeling of emptiness in his own career after he reached the pinnacle of the world rankings.
“In any coach-student relationship you need trust and trust can take time,” said Agassi of Djokovic’s decision to choose Murray. “It’s not about what I [as a coach] know that changes your career. Information doesn’t lead to transformation. You need to encounter the right information at work and then you might transform. In order to encounter it, you have to have full buy-in. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of trust immediately. We’ll see how the results go.”
Wanted: a reassuring presence
It is also worth remembering that Djokovic, arguably, has the most technically sound game in the history of men’s tennis. So he will not require a father figure who radically reshapes his court-craft but a friend who can put a casual arm around the shoulder and help pick the right piece to finish a complex jigsaw. More a reassuring presence like how Stefan Edberg was to Federer in 2014 when he nudged the Swiss great to embrace a larger racquet head (switching from 90 square inches to 97) to great success.
“Andy won’t have any secrets, but there are a lot of small details that he will know that maybe Novak doesn’t think about,” Swedish great Mats Wilander told Eurosport. “We always talk about peaking, and Murray knows how to peak. If you win the Olympic Games twice, Wimbledon twice and you are from Great Britain, you understand how to be at your best at the most crucial times.
“Murray and Djokovic also had similar behaviour towards their coaching boxes. It looked like it was a little bit of complaining or it could have just been about explaining how they were feeling. It will be interesting to see how Murray will react when Djokovic throws his arms up and says ‘what am I supposed to be doing now?’ It is going to be one of the most entertaining and interesting relationships.”
Published – January 10, 2025 11:06 pm IST
