Andy Murray analyzes the difference between ‘playing and watching’ after becoming Novak Djokovic’s coach

Andy Murray has had a fairly successful partnership with Novak Djokovic, coaching the Serbian to the semifinals of the Australian Open 2025.

Andy Murray analyzes the difference between ‘playing and watching’ after becoming Novak Djokovic’s coach

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray (Via X)

Andy Murray retired from tennis at the Paris Olympics 2024, after an illustrious career spanning nearly 20 years. A few months after his retirement came an announcement that took the tennis world by surprise- he had joined former rival Novak Djokovic as his coach.

The world was excited to see how well this partnership would fare at the Australian Open 2025, where Djokovic was competing for a record 25th Grand Slam title. It was a fairly successful partnership with Djokovic making it to the semifinals where he faced Alexander Zverev, albeit retiring from that match due to a hamstring injury.

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Andy Murray believes he has a lot to learn about coaching but the Scot left the Australian Open having enjoyed his first experience working with Novak Djokovic. Murray remarked that he always knew he would enjoy coaching.

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It’s definitely harder playing, that’s for sure. I would dispute people that say it’s harder watching from the sides. I know how stressful it can be out there. I felt a lot of nerves in the buildup to the matches, but when I was watching it I felt like I was able to switch that off. I felt calm at the side and was watching trying to do my job at times. At the end of the match with Alcaraz or important moments, you feel the nerves and things, but not to the same extent when you’re playing.

Andy Murray via The Guardian

Murray highlighted that there are certain areas he would need to get better at, e.g. the technical side of the game. He further added that as a player, he would understand the basics, but not extremely well like some very experienced coaches.

Novak Djokovic had an incredible victory over Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open 2025

Andy Murray has now beaten Carlos Alcaraz both as a coach and as a player. When on tour, Murray defeated the Spaniard in their first encounter, at Indian Wells in 2021. He later coached Djokovic to a hard fought triumph over Alcaraz at the Australian Open 2025 quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic Andy Murray
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray (via X)

This match was perhaps one of the most interesting and anticipated matches of the men’s tournament. After the Alcaraz victory, Djokovic walked over to his team box to hug Murray. The Serbian later described this as a gesture of gratitude towards Murray’s work and support during the tournament.

Murray described it as “a cool moment”. Murray added that everyone was pretty pumped after the match. He was in praise for Djokovic’s performance describing the way he played as unreal and incredible. It truly was unreal to see an injury laden 37-year-old Djokovic defeat third seed Alcaraz in his prime.

Djokovic too was full of praise for coach Murray but it is not yet clear if their partnership will continue. They had always planned to trial their coaching partnership through the Australian Open and then decide on their future plans. After a positive experience together, they have to decide what happens next. Nonetheless, fans greatly anticipate to see Djokovic clinch his 100th career title under Murray’s coaching.