Greg Rusedski reacts to Novak Djokovic's choice

11/25/2024 01:00 PM

Novak Djokovic is ready to start the latest chapter of his legendary career. The former world No. 1 – who did not win a single title in 2024 except for the gold medal at the Paris Olympics – will be followed by ATP legend Andy Murray at the 2025 Australian Open.

The former Scottish champion - who retired from tennis only a few months ago - has no experience as a coach, but has decided to accept the proposal of his former great rival. It is a very fascinating bet, which immediately went around the world.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion needs motivation at this point in his career, having to defeat opponents much younger than him such as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The 37-year-old from Belgrade knows that he no longer has many chances to win the 25th Major title of his career and will give his best in 2025 to achieve this feat as well.

The Serbian ace hopes to play his best tennis at the AO, where he has triumphed ten times and written memorable pages of tennis history. Nole will prepare very carefully during the pre-season and will arrive in Australia well in advance, even playing an official tournament before the AO.

Novak wants to take care of every detail and does not intend to underestimate any aspect of his preparation, because 2025 could be his last year at the highest level.

Murray's help could be important for Djokovic especially from a tactical point of view. Andy has faced almost every opponent Novak will face in 2025 and his thinking could be very useful for him to face certain challenges. It is clear that the Serbian needs to change something in his game at this point in his career, no longer being able to sustain certain rhythms from baseline against much younger rivals.

Recently, former ATP ace and top analyst Greg Rusedski commented on Nole’s choice to hire Murray for the next Australian Open.

“Novak Djokovic coached by Andy Murray is going to be fascinating to watch the player-coach relationship.

Andy is a great tactician, knows all the current player’s strengths and weaknesses. This could be an inspired choice or will it be a clash of personalities? Intriguing” – Rusedski wrote on his X profile.

It will be very interesting to see Andy's contribution next year and whether their collaboration will continue even after the first Grand Slam of the season.

In 2025, the former world number 1 will also try to win the 100th title of his career. Novak wants to prove that he can still be competitive to win the most important titles, although he is no longer the player to beat as he was a few years ago. The Serbian legend will be very dangerous in Melbourne and will start the tournament as the No.7 seed, being able to face Sinner or Alcaraz already in the quarterfinals.

On his YouTube channel, top analyst and commentator Gill Gross expressed his point of view about Djokovic’s experiment: “We’ve had conversations in the last you know several months about what Novak might need in a coach and other than that pre-existing relationship that carries immediate trust and respect, which I think was a requirement.

The other thing in terms of is this going to be effective, to me it’s it comes down to Novak Djokovic at this stage in his career having accomplished everything he’s ever set out to accomplish needing a spark.”

He continued: “Andy Murray coming into the coaching box is more than a spark. It is fireworks that’s what this is. It is fun, it is new it is exciting it is attention-grabbing and I think that energy that excitement a partnership that is going to raise some eyebrows at least in that initial period should be able to provide Novak some spark

We also know that Andy is a fiery character himself one of the toughest competitors we’ve ever seen grace the tennis court so this is a a shot in the arm for Novak that I think is needed.”

Nole's off-season has already been underway for a while, as the 24-time Grand Slam champion has not played an official tournament since the Rolex Shanghai Masters in October. After the 'Six Kings Slam' in Saudi Arabia, the former world No. 1 missed both the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

However, Novak's 2024 is not over yet. The 37-year-old from Belgrade will be the protagonist of an exhibition match with his friend Juan Martin del Potro in Buenos Aires on December 1st.