Andy Murray won’t repeat the same mistake he made with Novak Djokovic when he makes his official return to coaching one day. He began coaching the Serb superstar just a few months after the Scot hung up his racket at the 2024 Olympic Games.
Their collaboration lasted just six months, with Murray present in Djokovic’s box during his run to the Australian Open semi-finals and Miami Open final. They then parted ways following the Madrid Open as Murray moved on.
The three-time Grand Slam winner had no plans to return to tennis in a fresh role so quickly after retiring but couldn’t turn down the chance to work with his greatest rival. Now, Murray is hoping to take on a different type of challenge when he eventually dons his coach hat once more.
I think at some stage I probably would [consider a return to coaching]. My priorities are lying elsewhere just now, but I would do it again in the future,” the two-time Olympic gold medallist told The Athletic.
Murray has received several offers since putting down his own racket, but only Djokovic could tempt him back to the sport during the early months of his retirement. However, the 38-year-old would prefer to help nurture a young player when he does make the transition, pointing to Carlos Alcaraz’s hugely successful coaching partnership with Juan Carlos Ferrero.
He added: “I do like the idea of helping a much younger player, a little bit like – not that I would expect it to turn out like this – the Ferrero-Alcaraz relationship. A younger player that you’re really able to help and have a really positive influence on. I would find something like that quite interesting but certainly not right now.”
A former world No. 1 and Grand Slam winner, Ferrero began coaching Alcaraz when the Spaniard was just 15 years old. Throughout their partnership, Alcaraz claimed six Grand Slam titles and became the youngest world No. 1 in ATP history.
Their seven-year collaboration ended in December. Despite Murray’s six-month stint with Djokovic being relatively brief, and while he felt “disappointed” by the outcomes he helped his former rival accomplish, the Scot gained valuable insights into coaching that will benefit him in future.
It was unfortunate what happened in Australia with the injury, but I watched him play ridiculous tennis in that tournament,” Murray told the Tennis Podcast last year. “Amazing, just so, so good, so impressive what he’s doing.
“After the injury, it was certainly a difficult few months for him, but also I think for the team and all of us. So yeah, I was disappointed. Probably didn’t get the results I would have liked for him.
But I learned a lot about what coaching is. And because it was throwing yourself in at the deep end, you find out a lot about yourself and some of your strengths, some of your weaknesses as a coach and things that maybe you need to work on.
“I think it’s important for a coach to bring a good energy. So it’s something that if I ever coached again, I would work on and try to do a better job of it.
