On November twenty third, the document 24-time Main winner dropped an absolute bombshell after revealing that he could be joined by the freshly retired British tennis legend on the Australian Open.
For a few years, these two have been competing in opposition to one another on the largest stage and had among the best rivalries on the twenty first century. Now simply 4 months after his retirement from professional tennis, Murray is becoming a member of Djokovic’s crew and can attempt to assist the 37-year-old add extra success to his identify.
On paper, there are a number of explanation why this is among the most attention-grabbing and entertaining partnerships in tennis in current historical past.
Ljubicic, a former world No. 3 who retired in 2012, began working with Federer 4 years later when he was simply 37. Their collaboration was successful because the Swiss ended his five-year Slam drought on the 2017 Australian Open and received two extra Majors to complete with 20 earlier than retiring in 2022.
Now, the Croatian tennis legend is rooting for Murray and Djokovic to additionally see their partnership lead to some massive triumphs.
“It’s fantastic for the sport. I wrote a message to both of them to tell them how excited I was and that I understood their decision. I hope the outcome will be positive. Murray staying active in the sport, I love that. I imagine that Andy, who can’t travel for thirty weeks, will be there for the Grand Slams and a few important tournaments. I’m excited to see how that works out. We know how they are! Who’s going to say what to the other? It’s very interesting!” Ljubicic informed L’Equipe.
Ivan Ljubicic© Ivan Ljubicic/Instagram – Honest Use
Djokovic wished one thing totally different and he acquired it
After including Goran Ivanisevic to his teaching employees in 2018, the Serb went on so as to add 12 extra Grand Slams to his assortment and obtain his objective of setting a brand new document for essentially the most titles in that division. However after an especially profitable 2023 season, the present world No. 7 did not make an excellent begin to 2024 and it was evident that one thing was simply off.
Round March, rumors began to swirl round that Djokovic was near splitting with Ivanisevic. In April, that certainly occurred. In the remainder of the 12 months, the previous world No. 1 labored briefly with Nenad Zimonjic and another coaches related to the Serbian Tennis Federation.
When the offseason got here and he began making an inventory of potential coaches for 2025, the Serb thought it will be nice if he might discover somebody who was in his place and will perceive him completely. That is when he realized that Murray was the man he was trying to find.
Though the Briton was left shocked by the provide, he could not say no to his previous rival.
“I was going through a process of thinking about next season in the past couple of months and figuring out what I needed as I stopped with my coach Goran Ivanisevic, who I was successful with. I took about six months to think if I really needed a coach and if yes, who is that going to be and the profile of the coach,” Djokovic told Sky Sports.
“We were going through different names and I realized at this point the perfect coach would be someone who has been through the experiences I have been through. A multiple Grand Slam winner and I was thinking about a few and the Andy Murray discussion appeared on the table with my team. I decided I would give him a call and see how it goes. It caught him off guard a little bit as he wasn’t expecting it.
“We connected really fast and he accepted it after a few days. I can’t be more excited about it. This collaboration is a surprise to me as well, to everyone, but it is exciting for tennis. He has been one of my greatest rivals, we are at the same age. We played in all the biggest stages in our sport so I can’t wait to be out there next season.”
In keeping with some experiences, the previous two-time Wimbledon winner had a number of affords from high gamers since retiring however he declined all of them earlier than the Serb reached out.
If Djokovic finally ends up profitable his eleventh Australian Open title in January, there’s completely little doubt that we might be seeing extra of Murray in field in the remainder of 2025.
