Andy Murray didn’t sugarcoat it-his brief stint coaching Novak Djokovic didn’t go the way he’d hoped. After hanging up his racket following the 2024 Paris Olympics, Murray made the quick transition from player to coach, joining Djokovic’s team in November of that year.
The timing felt right. The opportunity?
A rare one. But six months later, the partnership had run its course.
“I was disappointed,” Murray admitted, reflecting on the results during their time together. “Probably didn’t get the results I would have liked for him.”
It’s not hard to see why Murray felt that way. Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, showed flashes of brilliance early on-most notably at the Australian Open, where he battled past Carlos Alcaraz to reach the semifinals.
But that momentum came to a halt when he was forced to retire due to injury in his match against Alexander Zverev. For a player as driven and elite as Djokovic, that kind of setback can throw off more than just a tournament-it can disrupt an entire season.
Murray, ever the competitor, saw the coaching role as more than just a post-retirement experiment. It was a chance to stay in the game, to learn, and to test himself in a completely different way.
“It was a good opportunity because I felt I wanted to coach at some stage,” he said. “If I didn’t take it, I might look back and think, ‘It would have been really interesting, I could have learned a lot,’ or potentially regretted it.”
And despite the disappointment, there were moments that reminded Murray why he took the job in the first place. “I watched him play ridiculous tennis in that tournament,” he said of Djokovic’s Australian Open run. “It was going well initially and it was unfortunate what happened in Australia with the injury.”
But once the injury hit, things got tougher-for Djokovic, for the team, and for Murray himself. Coaching, as it turns out, isn’t just about drawing up tactics or offering pep talks. It’s about managing personalities, navigating setbacks, and staying locked in even when the results don’t come.
“I learned a lot about what coaching is,” Murray said. “I was fully invested, tried my hardest to help, and made some good relationships along the way with his team.”
While the coaching chapter may have been short-lived, Murray doesn't view it as a failure. Far from it. It was a crash course in leadership, communication, and resilience-skills he spent a career developing on the court, now applied from the sidelines.
“I look back on it and I’m glad that I did it,” he said. “It’s an amazing experience that I’ve had. It didn’t last long, but I put everything into it.”
For a player who built his legacy on grit, intelligence, and relentless effort, that last line says it all. Murray gave it his all-just like he always has.