Three months after ending his tennis career Andy Murray is back in the game but in a different capacity.
On Saturday the Murray was sensationally announced as the new coach of Novak Djokovic, his former rival and 24-time Grand Slam champion.
The Serbian is heading into 2025 keen to add more majors to his already impressive list of achievements, starting with the 2025 Australian Open.
Djokovic has won the tournament 10 times and Andy Murray is set to be in his coaching team, at least until the end of the year’s first Grand Slam.
Murray will try to help the former World number one gain an advantage over the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who cemented themselves as the leading men on tour over the past year, and split the Grand Slams between them.
What is Andy Murray’s head-to-head record against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner?
Sinner and Alcaraz have pushed themselves to the front of a new era that is drawing in men’s tennis.
Their success in 2024 coincides with the retirements of Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, two players who played an integral role in the ‘Big 4’ era alongside Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Murray managed to test himself against Alcaraz and Sinner while the players were just starting out on the ATP Tour.
The three-time Grand Slam champion Brit competed against each player on two occasions, and defeated both of them once.
Murray won his first meeting against Alcaraz at the 2021 Indian Wells Masters, before the Spaniard claimed a win over him later that year in Vienna.
The double Olympic champion played Sinner for the first time in Stockholm in 2021, and earned a 7-6(4) 6-3 win, before Sinner levelled the rivalry the following year with a 7-5 6-2 victory in Dubai.
Novak Djokovic praises new coach Andy Murray
There has always been plenty of respect between Murray and Djokovic, who have known each other since they were teenagers.
They engaged in an entertaining rivalry throughout their professional careers and now, Murray will take on his first coaching job retiring by joining Djokovic’s team.
In previous comments after Murray became a Grand Slam champion, Djokovic praised him for his ability to bounce back from adversity to win some of tennis’ biggest prizes.
“Andy has all the capacity he needs, all the talent on the court. He’s dedicated; he’s professional. He has proven that many years already, you know, with his results,” he said.
“Us four, you know, we are taking this game to another level, and it’s really nice to be part of such a strong men’s tennis era, you know.
“Obviously in the last couple of years‑‑ I mean, I’m sure he’s gonna answer better‑‑ but it was a necessary experience for him also to understand, you know, what he needs to do to be in the position that he is today. So it was kind of a similar story for me a couple years back. You know, he has done it.”
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