At just 18-years-old, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic joined forces in the doubles for the 2006 Australian Open.
When Andy Murray took to Centre Court for the final time in July, he knew was mere weeks from the end of his career, extending his stay until the Paris Olympics.
It felt and still feels like tennis had lost one of its greats. Tim Henman suggested Murray would relish a coaching role, saying at the time that he sees it more as an inevitably.
However, few could have predicted his first major venture in the role would come just six months after his goodbye – and with one his most fierce rivals.
On Saturday, mid-way through Jannik Sinner’s tense Davis Cup semi-final match against Alex de Minaur, Novak Djokovic shocked the tennis world with the announcement that Murray would be joining his team as a coach through the off-season and the Australian Open.
But where did it all start for the men – born just a week apart from each other – who ended up forging one of the most incredible rivalries in sport?
When Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic teamed up at the 2006 Australian Open
As two doe-eyed teenagers rocked up to Melbourne 18-years-ago, the whispers that they would become two of the finest players of the coming generation were already there.
After a remarkable 2005 season, Murray was ranked 62nd to Djokovic’s 77. The Brit however had all the media hype, the sponsorship, the trainers, while Djokovic started from more humble beginnings.
In 2006 however, when they first graced the scene together, the hotly-anticipated duo lost both their opening matches in the singles and doubles.
Going up against the fifth seeds Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic, the duo lost in straight sets.
Despite the two defeats a-piece, Clive White noted at the time in the Telegraph: “Surely never before have first-round losers in the doubles attracted as much media attention as Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic did last Thursday. They could certainly have packed out a bigger venue than Small Interview Room One.
“When Roger Federer, the world No 1, speaks about how much more interesting men’s tennis is going to be in two or three years’ time he is alluding to the progress he expects the likes of Murray and Djokovic and the two young French teenagers Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils to make during that time.
“All four – Monfils was actually seeded – lost in the first round here, but it would be a mistake to think that the kids are not all right.”
At the time too, the piece reports that John McEnroe said that one from this quartet, plus the 20-year-old Czech Tomas Berdych, will break into the top 10 by the end of the year.
Indeed, the following year saw the previously unseeded pair reach the fourth round as the 14th and 15th seeds, with Murray losing in five sets to Rafael Nadal, and Djokovic in straight sets to eventual champion Federer.
A whopping 10 Australian Open titles later, it’s fair to say nobody predicted such dominance from Novak Djokovic in Melbourne.
Novak Djokovic’s 10 Australian Open titles, including four against Andy Murray
After a smart run in 2007, Djokovic opened his account in Melbourne the following year.
His famous marathon 2012 win over Nadal, considered one of the greatest finals in tennis history, lasted five hours and 53 minutes – the longest match in Australian Open history and the longest major singles final of all time.
| Year | Opponent | Score |
| 2008 | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6(2) |
| 2011 | Andy Murray | 6–4, 6–2, 6–3 |
| 2012 | Rafael Nadal | 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7(5), 7–5 |
| 2013 | Andy Murray | 6–7(2), 7–6(3), 6–3, 6–2 |
| 2015 | Andy Murray | 7–6(5), 6–7(4), 6–3, 6–0 |
| 2016 | Andy Murray | 6–1, 7–5, 7–6(3) |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal | 6–3, 6–2, 6–3 |
| 2020 | Dominic Thiem | 6–4, 4–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| 2021 | Daniil Medvedev | 7–5, 6–2, 6–2 |
| 2023 | Stefanos Tsitsipas | 6–3, 7–6(4), 7–6(5) |
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