Andy Murray refused to comment on the future of his partnership with Novak Djokovic, after the Serb’s Australian Open campaign ended in a painful retirement from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev.
The arrangement had always been to work together during the off-season and here in Melbourne before reassessing, and coach Murray would not be drawn on his feelings. ‘Me and Novak agreed that after the tournament we would speak,’ he said. ‘We’ll do that.’
Murray has not spoken to the press since the beginning of Djokovic’s campaign here, but he opened up about how it felt to watch his former rival and now ally succumb to the pain of a muscular tear after losing the first set of his semi-final against Alexander Zverev.
‘It’s hard,’ said Murray. ‘When you get to that stage of the tournament, you feel like you’re getting very close to something very special, and it’s unfortunate if the body’s not responding in the way you would like. With Novak there’s always hope with him because of how great a player he is and has found ways out of difficult situations before. It just wasn’t to be this time.’
Djokovic sustained the injury in his epic quarter-final win against Carlos Alcaraz, and Murray revealed there was no possibility of him not at least taking to the court to face Zverev.
‘He was always going to go out there and give it a good shot,’ said the Scot. ‘He obviously didn’t train the last couple of days. He practised right before the match and was feeling good enough to give it a go.
Novak Djokovic was forced to retire after the first set of his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev
The record Grand Slam winner had been battling a muscle injury sustained during his thrilling win over Carlos Alcaraz
Andy Murray refused to comment on the future of his partnership with his friend and former rival
‘The match that he played against Alcaraz was some incredible tennis, amazing to watch from that close, it was an amazing performance. He’d been getting gradually better as the tournament was progressing I think. It’s a really unfortunate way to finish.’
Asked about his experience of working with the greatest player of all time, Murray said it had felt embarrassing at times how much the narrative of the two old rivals joining forces had dominated the discourse.
‘They’ve been a great team,’ he said of the Djokovic camp. ‘At times it feels a bit embarrassing, because of my relationship with Novak, how much people talk about that or when there’s a good result or a good performance it’s because I’ve helped him.
‘I’m fully aware the team that is with him has done an incredible job over many, many years to allow him to still be competing at this level at the age that he’s at.
‘They’ve all been really, really helpful to me. They really welcomed me into the team. It’s been great to be a part of. I got to witness some amazing tennis, and one of the best matches that I’ve seen live against Alcaraz.’
Murray has found it an enjoyable but challenging experience.
‘It’s a steep learning curve for me,’ he said. ‘Things are different when you’re coaching, there’s a lot more that you need to help with in terms of communication around the team.
‘You’re not just thinking about yourself like you are when you’re a player. I’ve certainly learned a lot but there’s a lot more still for me to learn, that’s for sure.’
Djokovic suggested that he would be keen to continue their partnership but stressed the need to take time to evaluate properly
After the match, Djokovic said the pain – both physical and emotional – is too raw to make a decision on his future with Murray as coach, but suggested he would be keen to continue the partnership.
‘We both were disappointed with what just happened, so we didn’t talk about the future steps. We are so fresh off the court,’ said the 37-year-old.
‘I’ll definitely have a chat with Andy and thank him for being here with me, give him my feedback which is, of course, positive, see how he feels and we make the next step.
‘We are still hotheaded and disappointed, so it’s kind of hard to switch the page and start talking about what the next steps are. I think we both need to cool off a little bit and then we’ll have a chat.’
