John McEnroe speculated about what Andy Murray’s ulterior motive behind coaching his former rival Novak Djokovic might be. The Serb and the Brit’s partnership at the 2025 Australian Open is currently the talk of tennis town.
McEnroe dubbed the coaching situation between the two former rivals as ‘crazy’ and reminisced about the Brit’s highly successful partnership with his rival Ivan Lendl. For those unaware, Murray won three Grand Slams and reached World No. 1 under Lendl’s guidance.
“The coaching situation with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, it’s fun, but it’s gotta be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I remember being in Australia when they told me that Murray’s going to be coached by Ivan Lendl, my great rival and nemesis from way back. I thought about it and said, ‘Oh my god, this is going to work’. But there’s a big age gap,” McEnroe said in a video message for Eurosport.
He then hilariously speculated that the recently retired Andy Murray might be planning to learn all the tricks his former rival has got under his sleeve as his coach and later exploit the chinks in the Serb’s armor by overturning his retirement.
“There’s a one-week age gap between Novak and Andy, and he just stopped playing. So, my theory is, tell me if I’m wrong, that Murray is going to coach Djokovic for the next couple of months and then he’s going to find out everything he needs to know about how to beat Djokovic and then he’s coming back.”
McEnroe’s theory left everyone in splits.
The 10-time Australian Open winner leads his current coach Murray 25-11 in their rivalry.
“I’m here to try and sabotage Novak Djokovic’s chances” – Andy Murray jokes about taking revenge against the Serb for previous Australian Open heartbreaks
Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev played each other in a one-set exhibition at the Rod Laver Arena, which was won by the Serb in the tiebreaker. The two men sat down for an interview post-match and were joined by Andy Murray.
Murray joked about sabotaging the 10-time Melbourne conqueror’s chances of winning another title as he wanted to take revenge for his past woes. The Birt, notably, lost all of his Australian Open finals (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016) to the Serb.
“Yeah, played here a few times, could never quite go over the line, unfortunately. This man [pointing to the Serb] is singlehandedly responsible for that. So, I’m now here to try and sabotage his chances of winning another one.”
Funny enough, Andy Murray will have his chance at winning the Australian Open for the first time as the coach of the man who posed as the biggest obstacle in his path. The Serb’s quest to win an unprecedented 25th Major will kick off against Nishesh Basavareddy.
