The collection of famous last words was expanded by Andy Murray over the summer. The saying of this Scottish sportsman is even documented beyond a doubt: “I never liked tennis anyway.” He posted this one-liner on his Twitter profile shortly after the final ball flight of his career at the Olympic tennis tournament in Paris. Black British humor: This is another way to take the sting out of acutely felt pain with an ironic twist.
The two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray, former number one in the world rankings, regularly packed his bags into the car at home in southern England and improved his handicap on the 18-hole courses in the hills of Surrey. From 7 to 2 in three months, how The Times reported. He also took this with the humor of an aphorist. In his short biography he introduced himself like this: “I played tennis, now I play golf.”
Even playing golf didn’t take his toll. When the four children were at school, he recently casually explained, he would sometimes start to be bored for the rest of the week by Wednesday at the latest. It is therefore not surprising that he has now taken on a task that is certainly one of the most challenging in his old profession and will fully utilize him: He is supposed to lead the former world number one Novak Djokovic from Serbia to his 25th Grand Slam title. If possible at the next opportunity, in January.
:Novak Djokovic, the perfect one
After 24 Grand Slam titles, the Serb won Olympic gold for the first time at 37. In the final against Carlos Alcaraz, he won a battle of attrition at a fascinatingly high level – including miracle punches when required.
This alliance, which has astonished the tennis scene since it was announced on Saturday, has nothing else in mind: Andy Murray, 37, has agreed to support his colleague, who is a week older than him and one of his worst rivals, as a coach and advisor on the sidelines. He will be in the training hall with Djokovic in the coming weeks and with him after the turn of the year Australian Open sitting in his coach’s box. Further cooperation is open. Djokovic has won the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne ten times since 2008, more often than anyone else. In 2023, here of all places, in the place where he came so close to the myth of invincibility, he lost in the semifinals – against the young boy Jannik Sinner, who didn’t even give him a chance to break. According to Djokovic, this led to his “worst season in terms of performance”. “It’s time for me to bring one of my toughest opponents into camp,” he now announces in a video: “Welcome Coach Andy Murray.”
This men’s alliance, which hardly anyone would have thought possible a few months ago, gives the idea of the so-called Super Coaches a new twist; This refers to tennis celebrities who act as mentors and advisors. Andy Murray himself once popularized the concept by bringing the former world-class player and eight-time Grand Slam winner Ivan Lendl to his side in 2012, who was 52 years old at the time and long since retired. It was Lendl who, within a few months, transformed the highly talented Scot, who was too nervous in major finals, into an Olympic, US Open and Wimbledon winner. Djokovic, for his part, has experimented with super coaches: he worked briefly with Andre Agassi, later with Boris Becker and then with Goran Ivanisevic – all three at least former Wimbledon champions. The long-standing alliance with Ivanisevic ended in March, after the Australian Open debacle; Since then, the Serbian record winner has surrounded himself with changing coaching staff, most recently with his friend Boris Bosnjakovic.
Djokovic’s goal is clearly defined: the 25th Grand Slam title, which makes him the record holder
What Andy Murray can give him is priceless: among other things, the intellect and analytical gift of a professional who, even as a child, found the weak points in his opponents’ game and knew how to use them to his advantage, mercilessly, decisively and tenaciously. Djokovic has known this for ages; they have been dueling at the net since they were small, skinny boys. Murray’s persistence, three Grand Slam titles, two gold medals and the 46 titles he won in 20 years on the tennis court led to the triumvirate of tennis – Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Feder – now being part of the “Big Four”. “was expanded. Now two of them form a team; more competence cannot be concentrated on one court.
Murray has beaten Djokovic in two Grand Slam finals, in New York 2012 and Wimbledon 2013. But he has also lost eight of those major finals, including four times in Melbourne at the Australian Open (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016). The irony of the latest twist in history is that they could now conquer the difficult Norman Brookes Challenge Cup with two of them.
Because the long-time winner Djokovic, who has collected 24 Grand Slam trophies – more than his retired rivals Nadal (22) and Federer (20) – is still missing this one title. Then he would finally have surpassed the Australian Margaret Court in the statistics, who also has 24 titles.
As for Andy Murray, it can be assumed that he would have switched to coaching anyway. However, he might not have played golf for a while longer. However, Djokovic’s offer was unique, it would not have been repeated, and the Serb is also gradually running out of time.
Djokovic also knew Murray’s last words – and took them with humor. Also with a quick one-liner: “He didn’t like retirement anyway.”
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