Andy Murray makes ’embarrassing’ revelation as he shares Novak Djokovic coaching story

Ewan West 01 Dec 2025 7:00 PM

Pictured: Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic during an interview.

Andy Murray has recounted two amusing anecdotes, including one he branded “embarrassing”, from the early stages of his coaching partnership with Novak Djokovic.

The British tennis icon agreed to become Djokovic‘s coach in November 2024 in a move that stunned and fascinated the tennis world.

Djokovic and Murray were major rivals during a golden age of tennis, facing off 36 times between 2006 and 2017, with the Serbian great holding a 25-11 advantage.

Murray retired from tennis at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris having won 46 titles, including three Grand Slams, during an outstanding career.

What was Novak Djokovic’s record while Andy Murray was his coach?

The high-profile coaching collaboration between Murray and Djokovic lasted around six months, with the duo taking the mutual decision to split during the clay season in May.

Djokovic’s record across the seven tournaments he played while Murray was on his coaching team was 12-7 (63.2%).

The 24-time major winner suffered four defeats in his opening match at tournaments, but there were also the significant highs of a run to the Australian Open semi-finals and the Miami Masters final.

Djokovic delivered his best performance of the 2025 season to down Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-finals with Murray in his box.

What stories has Andy Murray recalled from his time as Novak Djokovic’s coach?

In an interview on the Tennis Podcast, Murray shared a “funny” memory from his first practice session with Djokovic.

“We did the practice session… his team were all kind of laughing at me because, whilst Novak was warming up, I was on the court practising my feeding [balls], like warming up my feeding,” said the two-time Olympic gold medallist.

“They were like, ‘I’ve never seen anyone do that before.’ I was like, ‘Well, as a player, I used to hate it when the coach fed poorly.’ And I had a basket of balls working on my feeding. So they all found it quite amusing I was doing that.”

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The former world No 1 went on to share an “embarrassing” story from when he went for a run with Djokovic.

“After the tennis session, his physical trainer was like ‘Novak is going for like a long slow run in the park, would you mind joining him?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god’,” Murray continued.

“I didn’t run since I was about 25, on the court I did, but I never did as part of my training. And I was like, ‘It is my first day on the job, I can’t say: no, I’m not doing this’. I was like, ‘Yeah, no worries. I’ll do that.’

“Baring in mind, I also hadn’t been staying in great shape since I finished, I’d been doing a bit but not loads. I told them that I’ve not trained much, and they said ‘It’s fine, it will be a gentle run.’

“So anyway, I went, I think it was about 50 minutes he was running for, and it was in a park, there were quite a few hills in there. Very slow pace, but after about four or five minutes my left calf cramped.

“And I was like, ‘Oh no’, but I can’t say anything, like this is embarrassing… after four or five minutes. Anyway, I finished, I completed the 50 minutes, I was in so much pain. When I finished I said to his team, ‘Guys, you need to help me out here’.

“I felt like I couldn’t stop, I didn’t want to show to him — oh my god, this is someone I’ve been competing against for such a long time and after five minutes he’s struggling training with me. So I did tough it out, but it was a pretty embarrassing moment for me.

“That run should not have been a test, it was so slow. I don’t know what happened, if it was ’cause I hadn’t run for a while, or I was dehydrated, or if it was nerves or whatever. It was so slow, and it was embarrassing.”