Andy Murray is prepared to face the pressure from Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, as he believes that the “unique opportunity” to coach him is worth it.
The Serbian 24-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic made the shock decision to hire Murray in November, just months after the Scot called time on his playing career.
In his first comments since then, fellow former number one Murray, who has known Djokovic since their junior playing days, said the call came out of the blue.
“I said to him: ‘Look, I need to think about it and talk to my family,'” the BBC quoted Murray as saying.
“So I spoke to them and after a couple of days I thought that it was a pretty unique opportunity and experience.
“I thought it would be a good idea to try it.”
Andy Murray is himself a three-time major winner — and five-time finalist in Australia — with both players members of the so-called “Big Four”, along with Rafael Nadal, who retired last year, and Roger Federer, who left the sport in 2022.
Djokovic and Murray faced each other 36 times in their careers with the Serb winning 25 of them.
Nineteen of those clashes came in finals, with both men known for sounding off at their box in pressure moments. This time it could be Murray on the receiving end.
“I know it’s not easy out there — it’s stressful and at times he’s going to want to vent towards his team and his box,” said Murray.
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“Providing that he’s giving his best effort and trying as hard as he can, I’m absolutely fine with him expressing himself how he wants.”
Djokovic said Murray inspired him and he was enjoying the collaboration.
“I think that his unique perspective on my game is the fact that he has played me for 25 years,” the Serbian star said on Friday. “He knows the evolution of my game, I guess the weaknesses and strengths of my game.”
“He also knows the game, the tennis game, of the biggest players in the world right now because he has just recently retired as a player.
“I’m excited to start the tournament with him,” he added.
With Novak Djokovic chasing an 11th Australian Open title and record 25th major, Murray made clear he was not in town for a holiday.
“At times it’s very enjoyable. But high performance is not supposed to be laughs and jokes and messing around,” he said.
“In all the times I’ve been on tour, I haven’t seen that from any of the best players in the world.
“I’ve seen it from some of the lower-ranked players, and that’s one of the reasons why they’re not there.”
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