Novak Djokovic reveals what comes next for Andy Murray partnership after retirement
This year’s Australian Open has had many exciting storylines, and one that has caught much attention is the player-coach relationship between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – something which both legends will consider the future of in the coming weeks.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion retired from his match against Alexander Zverev on Friday due to a muscle injury and both Djokovic and Murray made clear that they will hold discussions over how – or if – their relationship with continue.
Speaking after his semi-final retirement, the 10-time Australian Open champion stated gave his views on the unexpected link-up with his former rival.
“We are both disappointed with what just happened, so we didn’t talk about the future steps,” said Djokovic.
“I’ll definitely have a chat with Andy and thank him for being here with me. You know, give him my feedback, which is, of course, positive, and see how he feels.
“We are still hot-headed and disappointed, so it’s kind of hard to switch the page and start talking about what the next steps are,” Djokovic said, clearly still emotional after his first retirement since the 2019 US Open.
“I think we both need to cool off a little bit and then we’ll have a chat.”
It was late November when the two took to social media to announce their partnership, just a few months after Andy Murray’s retirement at the Paris Olympics. At the time, Djokovic captioned the post with
“I’m excited to have one of my greatest rivals in my team, on the same side of the net, this time as my coach, I’m looking forward to starting the season together with Andy and having him by my side in Melbourne, where we’ve shared many extraordinary moments throughout our careers.”
After coaching from the sidelines for the first time in his career, Andy Murray also detailed his thoughts about the future of the relationship.
“Me and Novak agreed that after the tournament we would speak. We’ll do that,” said the Scot.
“I think he was always going to go out there (against Zverev) and give it a good shot. He obviously didn’t train the last couple of days. He practised right before the match and was feeling good enough to give it a go,” the three-time Grand Slam champion stated – after Djokovic suffered the leg injury during his match against Carlos Alcaraz.
“It was an unfortunate way to finish. The match that he played against Alcaraz was some incredible tennis, amazing to watch from the side from that close, it was an amazing performance. He’d been getting gradually better as the tournament was progressing I think.
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“It’s hard. When you get to that stage of the tournament, you feel like you’re getting very close to something very special, and it’s unfortunate if the body’s not responding in the way that you would like.”
Djokovic is next due to participate in the Qatar Open in mid-February, but the injury places a large question mark over the Serb’s future schedule.
His plans to play for Serbia in next week’s Davis Cup tie against Denmark in Copenhagen appear to have been ended by this injury.
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