MELBOURNE—World No. 2 Andy Murray and world No. 3 Roger Federer say they’ve tried a few things during the off-season that could help them against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, but both men know that they can’t focus on just one player.
“This off-season maybe a little bit more,” said Murray when asked about preparing for Djokovic. “But it's not just him you have to win against. “Roger last year, I didn't have a good record against him either.”
“I'm always on the lookout for how to play certain players or certain tournaments or about my own game,” said Federer before the Australian Open. “So Novak might be a small piece of the puzzle, but it wasn't the piece. I'm more focused about my own game than any other player."
Murray went 1-6 against Djokovic in 2015, losing matches at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Roland Garros, Shanghai, and Paris-Bercy; his win came in Montreal. Federer beat Murray at Wimbledon and Cincinnati in 2015 and has won five straight meetings.
“In practices there's things you'd look to do for matches against them," said Murray. "But also rather than it just being in practice, looking at matches that you've played against them and understanding sort of tactics and things that are happening in the match that you can maybe change, as well. In practice, you're always trying to improve your overall game.
"Maybe looking at the videos of the matches and going, 'Oh, I could improve my serve here or improve my return.' It's not just for against them, it's against all the other players, as well.”
Federer noted that he challenged Djokovic in 2015, going 3-3 against the world No. 1, but lost both the Grand Slam finals they played. He still sees the two of them, along with Murray, Rafael Nadal, and Stanislas Wawrinka, at the top of the game, but acknowledged that Djokovic had opened up a gap on the others.
"I still think the same guys are playing very well," said Federer. "But, of course, Novak deserves like a little star next to his name right now because he's been doing extremely well."
Federer added that he had a good off-season, and his recent cold is "90 percent gone." He would have to keep working to keep up with Djokovic, he said, and is counting on his team to help him. Federer has just added Ivan Ljubicic as a coach.
"I always believe there's new things you can learn, but there's always sometimes a way of staying motivated, staying hungry," he said. "Someone like Ivan can also help do that...I can do a lot by myself, but I need my support team to push me the last 1 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent, whatever it is, because I'm not in the same mood every single day."
Federer comes into the tournament having reached the final at the Brisbane ATP event.
Matt Cronin and Kamakshi Tandon contributed to this story.