Andy Murray made the seamless transition from player to coach at the beginning of 2025, but his first foray into that field was anything but easy.
After all, whilst the former world number one actually seemed quite happy to have retired just last year, he simply could not turn down the opportunity to try and help Novak Djokovic win his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title.
So, with the green light from his wife, Murray was back in the tennis world less than six months after he had played his final match at Wimbledon.
Sadly, it was not the match made in heaven that many hoped it might become, as Murray and Djokovic parted ways in May.
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The Scotsman has since returned once again to provide his insight into how the opportunity came about and how it came to an end.
Andy Murray shares what it was really like to coach Novak Djokovic
Speaking on The Tennis Podcast, the three-time Grand Slam champion was as open as ever as he spoke about the union that shocked the tennis world.
However, despite a promising start to life together, soaring into the semi-finals of the Australian Open, a string of injuries and a loss of form saw that partnership eventually cut short.
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Reflecting on those few months alongside the 39-year-old, Andy Murray claimed: “I mean, you’re obviously working with, he’s not just one of the best tennis players, one of the best athletes of all time. You know, so my expectation was that it was going to be extremely challenging. You know, Novak, like myself, you know, challenging character in terms of the way he goes about his tennis is extremely demanding, and you know, I fully expected that.
“And yeah, I look back on it, and I’m glad that I did it. It’s an amazing experience that I’ve had. I’ve learned a bit; obviously, it didn’t last that long.”
He seemingly had no regrets about his time coaching Djokovic, stating that he worked as hard as he possibly could to provide value to the team.
However, as touched upon earlier, a lack of fitness scuppered their early promise: “So, you know, I was disappointed, probably didn’t get the results I would have liked for him, but I learned a lot.
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“I learned a lot about what coaching is, and as you said, because it was you throwing yourself in at the deep end, you find out a lot about yourself and some of your strengths, some of your weaknesses as a coach and things that maybe you need to work on yourself.”
He also added that the bulk of the stress involved with the job did not come during the matches, but rather before them: “I actually didn’t find the matches that stressful. The actual once the matches start, the actual build-up to the matches, I found really quite stressful.
“There’s lots of things that you need to do, and making sure that everything is done correctly, so making sure that the rackets are right, the practice court is booked, and the practice partner is appropriate, and that, you know, the videos around the match are done.”
Andy Murray says he has a problem with court-side coaching
Murray was not finished there when speaking about coaching though, having clearly formed some very strong opinions on the discipline despite that being his first role.
However, the 38-year-old has always been an outspoken and passionate individual, even if his dry humour might have sometimes masked that.
In this same interview, Murray revealed that he was completely against one tennis rule change made this very year.
And, his distaste extended to one area of court-side coaching, adding: “To be honest, I wasn’t bothered by that, like the cameras and stuff being there. It’s just not a good place to watch tennis from.
“You know, like, I don’t understand why… coaches should be sitting, in my opinion, and the team should be sitting in the best seats in the house, I feel.
“Because you want to be able to watch the match properly, and sometimes, like a lot of the teams get put in positions where they can’t see properly. The umpire’s chair is in the way, and I feel like the team should be sitting directly behind the court, so they get a proper view of the match and see what’s going on.
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“So from a communication perspective, it was good because you were right there and you obviously were allowed to chat to the players. So I really liked that about it, but just in terms of like watching a tennis match from there, it’s not that easy to see from that low down.”
He concluded his tirade with a smile, admitting: “So, yes, could be close to the court, but the position of the seats were not to my liking.”
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