Novak Djokovic x Andy Murray: Does this coaching pairing of former rivals make sense?

Just as the 2024 season was winding toward its finale this weekend, 2025 butted in and stole all of its headlines.

On Saturday, Italy’s win over Australia in the Davis Cup semifinals was important news, but it couldn’t compete with Novak Djokovic’s announcement that he had hired Andy Murray—his rival and friend since their junior days—to join his coaching team during the off-season and through the Australian Open.

Tennis fans around the world did double-takes and laughed out loud. They checked to make sure it wasn’t fake news. They tweeted, “Is this real life?” One of the most interested spectators—Murray’s mom, Judy—put up a popcorn emoji. The idea that the Serb and the Scot, who were born one week apart and faced off 36 times as pros, would be teaming up seemed like the stuff of April Fool’s jokes. But it was real, and each man confirmed it with a similar turn of phrase.

“I’m excited to have one of my greatest rivals on the same side of the net, as my coach,” Djokovic said.

“I’m really excited for it, and looking forward to spending time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change, helping him achieve his goals,” Murray said.

Now that we know the partnership is real, we can move to the next question: Does it make sense? On paper, at this early stage in the game, it does.

Djokovic and Murray fought for the No. 1 ranking and battled through contentious finals, including one at the 2015 Australian Open in which Murray seemed to think that Djokovic’s physical issues were an act. But their career arcs went in opposite directions after Murray was derailed by a debilitating hip injury, and they haven’t played since 2017. With the rivalry over, they were left with a friendship, and a shared goal of beating back the aging process, and their ever-younger opponents, as they reached their late 30s.

That shared experience should help Murray bring useful insights to the Djokovic camp. Unlike most coaches, who are from earlier ATP generations, Murray has been competing against the same players that Djokovic has. He knows the modern game, he understands the limits that Djokovic faces as a 37-year-old, and he’ll know the individual tendencies of Djokovic’s opponents from having faced them himself.

We haven’t seen what Murray will be like as a coach, but as a player he was a cerebral and often risk-averse tactician. He liked to rally, to slice, to maneuver, to grind and, in his later years, he enjoyed nothing more than mounting an improbable comeback. In his early years on tour, he was constantly urged to be more aggressive, and under Ivan Lendl, he did successfully take more initiative. But he was never possessed of a monster forehand, and his default was always to build points rather than end them with an early strike.

I’m sure Murray is smart enough to know that what worked for him won’t necessarily work for Djokovic. But Murray also doesn’t seem like someone who will try to do anything radical with Djokovic’s game, or urge him to pull the trigger earlier. I doubt Murray, who is more level-headed than egotistical, will need to impose his views on Djokovic’s team, or that their tactical philosophies will clash. I said something similar about Djokovic and Andre Agassi when they began to work together, and that partnership never gelled. But in this case, I think the long history between Murray and Djokovic should help them get along.

What does Djokovic need from a coach in 2025? Olympic gold aside, he’s coming off his worst season since his injured-plagued 2017. He failed to win a major, and he ceded his ATP throne to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. How does a 37-year-old catch up to a 23-year-old in Sinner, and a 21-year-old in Alcaraz, after they have proven they can beat him at the majors? He’ll need all of Murray’s tactical acumen to come up with a game plan that can subvert the Spaniard and the Italian.

Still, hope is never lost with Djokovic on a tennis court, and there are a few extenuating circumstances he can point to that help explain his subpar 2024. He was injured at Roland Garros, and still recovering at Wimbledon. He may have been suffering from an Olympic hangover during the US Open. And at the Australian Open, he seemed distracted in his semifinal loss to Sinner. We learned two months later that he and his head coach at the time, Goran Ivanisevic, were reaching the end of their road together in Melbourne. Starting fresh with Murray should give Djokovic a new focus when he returns Down Under, and make 2025 feel like a new chapter in his career, one that he’ll be motivated to make work for both their sakes.

Speaking of Goran, it’s easy to imagine him grinning today as he asks himself this question: “What is Andy going to do the first time Novak yells at him?” Murray was famous for berating his coaches, and Djokovic carried on that tradition in recent years with Ivanisevic. All we can say for now is: We’ll see how it goes.

And, like Judy Murray, get the popcorn ready.