Andy Murray looks back on coaching Novak Djokovic: 'I tried my hardest to help'

Djokovic shocked the tennis world when he announced that he had hired Murray, one of his biggest ex-rivals, as his coach ahead of the 2025 season.

Murray agreed to the role less than three months after he brought down the curtain on his glittering playing career at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Djokovic and Murray's partnership brought mixed results before they mutually agreed to end it after six months on May 13.

It got off to a hugely positive start when they reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, which included a stunning victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the last eight.

Another high point was Djokovic reaching the Miami Open final in March, but he also lost his opening matches in Doha, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo and Madrid while working with Murray.

During an appearance on The Tennis Podcast, Murray opened up on his high-profile first coaching role.

"It is [going in at the deep end]," the former world No 1 said. "You're obviously working with, he's not just one of the best tennis players, but one of the best athletes of all time, so my expectation was that it was going to be extremely challenging.

"Novak, like myself, is a challenging character in terms of the way he goes about his tennis, it's extremely demanding. I fully expected that.

"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 didn't last that long. I put everything into it that I had. I tried my hardest to help him.

"Initially it was going well. It was unfortunate what happened in Australia with the injury, and I watched him play - in that tournament - ridiculous tennis, in my opinion. I saw him play some amazing tennis there. Speaking to his team about that, it was like, 'So, so good. So impressive what he's doing.'

"After then the injury, it was certainly a difficult few months for him, but also I think for the team and all of us. So I was disappointed. Probably didn't get the results I would have liked for him."

The three-time Grand Slam continued: "But I learned a lot about what coaching is and because you're throwing yourself in at the deep end, you find a lot about yourself and some of your strengths and weaknesses as a coach and things that maybe you need to work on yourself.

"I was fully invested, I was sitting there, like at 11 o'clock at night watching videos of his matches over in Australia, editing videos to send to him. I tried my hardest to help. And made some good relationships along the way with his team, I stay in touch with quite a few of the team members.

"I'm glad I did it, but disappointed the results weren't as I would have liked."

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