Christopher Clarey sheds lights on Novak Djokovic-Andy Murray alliance, says Serb has always tapped into smart, high-level tennis players

Renowned Tennis journalist Christopher Clarey has shed light on Novak Djokovic appointing Andy Murray as his next coach. Djokovic took one and all by surprise after publicly announcing his partnership with the Brit.

Murray retired from the game in 2024 whereas Djokovic parted ways with his former coach Goran Ivanisevic in March and he was playing without any coach since then.

Clarey said on Courtside Conversations, “He’s brought in all along, he’s always tapped into smart, high-level tennis players. Ljubicic, when he’s working with Riccardo Piatti, he brought in Agassi for a while. He’s had Todd Martin come with him before. These are pretty cerebral people in a lot of ways.”

Murray has got all the experience under his belt and Clarey is impressed with Djokovic’s decision.

“Andy is a smart guy, he knows a lot about tennis.”

On the other hand, Novak Djokovic revealed Andy Murray was surprised after he showed his interest in having him on board in his team.

“So I took about six months to really think about if I needed a coach and if yes, who that’s going to be and the profile of the coach,” Djokovic said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“I realised that the perfect coach for me at this point would be someone that has been through the experiences that I’m going through. Possibly a multiple grand slam winner and former number one.”

“I was thinking about different people and then Andy Murray, ……. ‘okay, I’m going to give him a call and see how it goes’ and it caught him a little bit off guard as well, because he wasn’t expecting it,” he said.

Djokovic will look to clinch his 11th Australian Open title in 2025.