Andy Murray has been making the rounds in London this week, returning to The O2 as the Laver Cup comes back to the site of one of the most emotional moments of his career.
The three-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1, who played alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at Federer’s farewell at the 2022 Laver Cup, has been back around familiar faces. Murray appeared on Andy Roddick’s Served podcast at the Laver Cup Fan Zone and has been taking in the action at The O2, where Federer has also returned this week.
Murray, who retired in 2024 and has since dipped his toes into coaching with Djokovic and, more recently, Jack Draper, opened up to Roddick about what he learned during his brief stint coaching the consensus GOAT.
There was one thing in particular that surprised him.
“The guy’s the greatest tennis player of all time,” Murray said. “So, for me, it was just trying to get him to understand what makes him great. Like, when he’s playing his best tennis, what does that look like? What decisions is he making at certain times?”
Murray said that as players approach the end of their careers, doubts can begin to creep in — and Djokovic, despite his extraordinary success and reputation for mental toughness, was no exception.
“That was probably the biggest surprise for me, is that this is a guy that I’ve looked at — and we would all agree is probably mentally one of the toughest out there across all sports — but it’s just how many doubts he has about himself and his own game, and before big matches and in training.”
Then came the kicker from Murray, who lost 25 of his 36 career meetings with Djokovic, including a 2-5 record against the Belgrade native in Grand Slam finals.
“If I’d known that when I was playing against him, I would have felt a lot more confident going into these matches.”
Even Djokovic Can Learn
Murray also pushed back on the notion that there was little he — or any coach — could teach a player as accomplished as Djokovic.
“What can anyone tell Novak? Why should he ever have had a coach?” Murray replied to Roddick, paraphrasing the argument, before saying that it was stupid to assume that a player like Djokovic couldn’t learn from a lesser player. “You can learn from all sorts of people.”
Murray pointed out that many of his own coaches were not as accomplished as he was as a player, yet he still learned plenty from them.
Murray said he was also surprised by another thing about Djokovic. Just how much emphasis he put on clean technique. He said he discovered that Djokovic remained deeply interested in the finer points of technique, something that initially caught Murray off guard before ultimately making perfect sense.
“He was always wanting feedback, particularly very into technique, which surprised me,” Murray said. “But then again, you think, well, the guy has incredible technique. He has amazing technique, and it’s improved over the years a lot as well.”
0 comments