‘Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray partnership will last the full year – it’s very serious’

Former world No 25 Jeremy Chardy has predicted that Andy Murray will coach Novak Djokovic at the big tournaments for at least the entirety of the 2025 season. 

Djokovic stunned the tennis world last month when he announced he would be joining forces with his former rival Murray.

“I was going through a process of thinking about next season and trying to figure out what I need at this stage of my career,” the 37-year-old Serbian explained last month. “Because I stopped with my coach Goran Ivanisevic, that I was very successful with for many years, in March.

“So I took about six months to really think about if I really need a coach, and if yes, who that’s going to be and the profile of the coach.

“We were going through different names and I realised the perfect coach for me at this point would be someone that has been through the experiences that I’m going through, possible multiple Grand Slam winner, former No 1.

“I was thinking about different people and then an Andy Murray discussion appeared on the table with me and my team.

“It was still a shock decision. It caught him a little bit off guard as well because he wasn’t expecting it, so we connected really fast and he accepted after a few days. I couldn’t be more excited about it. This collaboration is a surprise to me as well, to everyone. But it’s exciting for tennis.”

Murray, who retired from tennis after this year’s Paris Olympics, 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 to achieve his goals.”

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Djokovic will start his 2025 season at the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane, which will begin on December 29. The 24-time Grand Slam titlist will have Murray in his coaching box for the first time at the 2025 Australian Open, which will run from January 12-26.

Chardy, who coaches world No 14 Ugo Humbert, believes Djokovic appointing Murray was a “very serious” move made to help him win another major.

“For me, they will go for the full year on the big tournaments and if it’s going well they will continue,” he told Express Sport.

“When you’re an athlete, you know that nothing is magical, so it’s not because Andy is coming that it’s going to change everything, but we need six months to start to see improvement and to be able to do some work.

“It’s not magical, it’s a process, you need to believe in the process, believe in the direction you are taking. If they have decided to work together, it means they believe they can do something really good together.

“I’m not really surprised because I think the only goal of Djokovic is to win another Grand Slam and I think Andy is one of the best in tactics and I think he took him to try to find a way to win against the best players like [Jannik] Sinner, [Carlos] Alcaraz, and to work on that.

“It’s very serious. [Djokovic is] not here to have fun. He will play less tournaments because he starts to get older, physically it will be more difficult for him, but I’m sure he’s going to prepare to be at the peak at every Grand Slam and if he has Andy in his team, he’s 100 per cent sure he will help him.

“He’s here for a reason, he’s not here for fun or for media. People sometimes think they will do stuff because they’re going to retire or something but on that level, you don’t do anything for fun.

“You want to compete, you want to play, you want to win and once you lose this passion, you stop playing, you don’t play for fun. Especially when you’re a legend like Djokovic, and the same for Andy. You don’t go to coach Novak just for fun or to not try to help him.”

Djokovic and Murray contested 36 matches during a rivalry spanning from 2006 to 2017, with the latter holding a 25-11 advantage. The pair met in 10 Grand Slam matches, including seven major finals.

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