Andy Roddick made a huge revelation about the Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray partnership as the 2003 US Open champion shares he was told that the newly retired Briton rejected multiple offers from “top male and female” players before accepting the Serb’s invitation to work with him.
After missing the Paris Masters and ATP Finals, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion made all the headlines on Saturday after announcing the former two-time Wimbledon winner as his coach for the Australian Open.
To no one’s surprise, it drew major attention and excitement but also some logical questions. While Murray recently hinted that he would be open to coaching one day, no one really expected him to get into it this early. And especially no one expected to see the former world No. 1 working with Djokovic.
But according to Roddick’s sources, the Briton was seemingly getting offers since basically ending his career in early August.
“I’ve heard that top players, male and female, Andy Murray has said no to many over these last four months,” the American former world No. 1 said on the Served with Andy Roddick.
Tennis journalist Jon Wertheim, who was also on the podcast, said that those close to the former three-time Grand Slam champion told the 37-year-old that he simply could not pass on the offer to work with Djokovic.
“I’ll add a little on that, but apparently, I’ve heard the same thing. This is not the first player that has reached out to Andy, and Andy’s family unit basically said, ‘You are going to regret it if you don’t do this.’ It’s also in Australia right, this isn’t like, hey we’ll do this at Wimbledon, ‘I’m going to be outside anyway,’ I mean this is flying across oceans and time zones and I was told that people very close to Andy Murray have simply said, ‘We know you too well, we know you are going to regret it if you say no to this. Go ahead and see how it goes,’” Wertheim said.
Roddick added: “And the other people asking were on the top of the pile too. They were high, high, high-ranked men and women.”
Djokovic and Murray’s statements
At the start of the 2024 season, the Serb’s 33-match winning streak at the Australian Open came to an end following a four-set defeat semifinal to Jannik Sinner – for the first time since 2018, he lost a match at Melbourne Park. In the rest of the Grand Slam year, the 37-year-old didn’t manage to win any Majors and it was the first season since 2017 that it happened.
When announcing his new role, Murray specifically noted that he was brought in to help Djokovic “achieve his goals.”
“I’m going to be joining Novak’s team in the off season, helping him to prepare for the Australian Open. I’m really excited for it and looking forward to spending time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change, helping him to achieve his goals,” Murray said in a statement.
On the other side, Djokovic recounted their big Australian Open battles – in the past, the Serb beat the Briton in four finals at Melbourne Park.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic© YouTube screenshot
“I am excited to have one of my greatest rivals on the same side of the net as my coach. Looking forward to the start of the season and competing in Australia alongside Andy, with whom I have shared many exceptional moments on Australian soil,” the record 10-time Australian Open champion said.
Viktor Troicki hinted something big was about to go down
Just a couple of days before the Djokovic and Murray news dropped, former Serbian tennis star Troicki revealed that he met the 24-time Grand Slam champion and that he was set to hire “a big name.”
“I am glad that Novak stated that he is at 100 percent starting preparations for the new season. We saw each other briefly, and I even heard that something was brewing with a new coach, with a big name. I don’t know anything about that. That’s the gossip I heard yesterday, I didn’t hear from him,” the former world No. 12 told Sport Klub.
In the same interview, Troicki highlighted that Djokovic accomplished his main goal for 2024 and backed him to return to a Slam-winning form next year.
“This year, his main focus was on the Olympic Games, and he showed that – when he really wants something, he can make it happen, it was like that before and in his career,” he noted.
It will be interesting to see if Murray can guide Djokovic to his 25th Grand Slam title in their Slam debut as a player/coach duo.