Andy Murray says what surprised him the most about Novak Djokovic when he was his coach
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic’s high-profile coaching partnership stole headlines in 2024 and 2025, but it failed to help the Serbian continue his Grand Slam dominance.
Djokovic and Murray began working together at the end of the 2025 season, and the Scot helped the Serbian reach the semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open.
The partnership did not, however, lead to any title victories for Djokovic. In fact, Djokovic won his first title as soon as he split with Murray in May 2025.
Speaking to Andy Roddick at Served’s Laver Cup special, Murray opened up about his working relationship with Djokovic during the 2026 season.
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“For me it was just trying to get him to, you know, understand what makes him great? Like why, like when he’s playing his best tennis, what does that look like? What decisions is he making at certain times?,” explained Murray.
“And when you’re coming towards the end of your career, like more doubts creep in as well. You start to think a little bit more about decisions that you’re making, even someone as as great as him.”
Murray, however, was surprised by just how many doubts the 24-time Grand Slam champion had while they worked together.
“And that was probably the the biggest surprise for me. This is a guy that I’ve looked at and we would all agree is probably he’s mentally one of the toughest out there across all sports.
“But it’s just how like how many doubts he has about himself in his own game and before big matches and in training. And it’s like if I’d known that when I was playing against you, I would I would have felt a lot more confident going into these matches!”
Murray was also surprised by Djokovic’s emphasis on his technique so late into his career.
“He was always wanting like feedback particularly like very into technique which surprised me but then again you think well the guy has incredible technique you know he has amazing technique and unless you and it’s improved over the years a lot as well,” said Murray.
“So you know I was surprised by that but when I thought about it a bit more it’s like well yeah if you’re not if you’re not into that you’re not going to have some of the cleanest and you know the best technique out there.”
Djokovic is now working with former ATP Tour star Viktor Troicki, while Murray enjoyed a stint with Jack Draper during this year’s grass court season, which included a run to the semifinals of the Eastbourne Open.
