Andy Murray's post-tennis life, coaching Novak Djokovic, and facing the Big Three
A year after Andy Murray's surprise coaching partnership with his longtime tennis rival Novak Djokovic, the three-time Grand Slam champion discussed that partnership, his career regrets, and his match-ups against Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer in an exclusive interview with The Tennis Podcast. Murray, 38, also touched on life in retirement, including his family life with his son Teddy.
Here are the key takeaways from the Scot's interview, lightly edited for clarity.
On Coaching Novak Djokovic
Murray and Djokovic's partnership lasted just six months, but produced several highlights, including a fever-dream Australian Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Alcaraz. Murray discussed the huge amount he learned from working with the greatest male player of all time, even in a short stint.
"Novak, like myself, is a challenging character in terms of the way he goes about his game... His tennis is extremely demanding. I fully expected that. I look back on it and I’m glad that I did it. It’s an amazing experience that I’ve had."
"It was unfortunate what happened in Australia with the injury, but I watched him play ridiculous tennis in that tournament. Amazing, just so so good, so impressive what he’s doing."
On his Hip Injury and Career Regrets
Murray's career came to a halt in 2017 when a hip problem ruled him out for almost a year. He was never the same player again, after an injury that was caused in part by the wear and tear of more than a decade spent trying to keep up with Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal. Murray pushed himself to the limit to pip Djokovic to the year-end world No. 1 spot.
"I would have taken more breaks. I would have enjoyed the successes more. When I won the Olympic Games (London 2012) I flew the next day to Canada to play the Masters Series there. Terrible decision. I played my first match, my body was in bits, it was on a different surface, I got nothing out of doing that."
On Living with the Big Three
Murray discussed what it was like playing the Big Three, starting with Federer, who he beat in six of their first eight matches before ending his career with a 14-11 losing record against the Swiss.
"His backhand would still have been one of the best backhands in the world, but in relation to his forehand, it was clear that that was a side that you could maybe attack and my backhand crosscourt was one of my best shots."
On the Tennis Schedule and Player Burnout
Murray opposed increasing the number of two-week ATP Masters 1000 events, emphasizing that it’s not the greater volume of tennis that’s the issue, but the increased time on the road and the mental load that puts on players.
"I was sitting on the ATP player council when this got voted for, to change to longer events and I was completely against that change... The feeling from the ATP at the time was there would be less injuries, because you would have more time to recover between matches. My feeling was that if you put two-week tournaments on there’s less time for players to actually recover."
On Life in Retirement
Murray revealed that he's a terrible cook and that his eldest daughter struggled with him being around less due to his injuries and retirement from tennis.
"I don’t cook. I’m a terrible cook. I used to cook more. There’s a recipe that you follow [in a meal kit] but the problem for me is that I will follow the instruction down to a T, and so if something isn’t going quite right, I have no idea how to make adjustments..."
"It was only last week when I picked her up from netball, it was the first time that she actually walked next to me back to the car."
