Andy Murray Shares Insight Into His Coaching Sessions With Novak Djokovic
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Andy Murray started his career as a coach on the ATP Tour, and he also provided an insight into what his coaching sessions with Novak Djokovic looked like.
Djokovic and Murray stunned the tennis world when they announced that they would be partnering as a player and a coach. The two used to be rivals on the tennis courts, and shortly after Murray's retirement, they decided to join forces.
Their first event together was a relative success. Djokovic reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, and it wasn't any opponent that would be able to stop him. Instead, the Serbian player was stopped by an injury.
According to the latest reports, it seems that Djokovic and Murray will continue working together, which will allow the former British player to further improve his skills as a coach as well.
Murray recently spoke about his coaching during an appearance on the Sporting Misadventures with Chris Hoy podcast. The former ATP World No. 1 explained that instead of telling Djokovic what he was doing wrong, he told him what he was doing good.
"It wasn’t so much 'this is what you did wrong,' it was more like 'this is what you do right. (It was) 'when I was playing against you, you were doing this, it was so hard to play against for these reasons.'"
"I was more like trying to emphasize the positives of when he’s playing well, this is what it looks like, and this is what it feels like for the player down the other end. As a player you never know the speed of your own shot, the speed of your ball, what impact it’s having on the guy down the other end, what are they feeling."
Murray thinks that if he was told what Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal hated when he did on the court, it would have certainly helped him.
"If I (had been) able to hear from Novak or (Roger) Federer or (Rafael) Nadal when I was playing against them, 'oh I hate it when you do this to me or when you hit this shot,' that would have been a huge, huge help to me to know that."
Murray is aware of the fact that he lacks experience when it comes to coaching. At the same time, there isn't any other coach at the moment who would have as much experience playing against the likes of Djokovic. That's what puts Murray in a unique position to be a good coach.
"I do think it’s a unique perspective I have on Novak’s game that I’m able to make up for some of those weaknesses and flaws that I would have (as an inexperienced coach) because I’ve competed against him in the biggest matches on the biggest stages over a 10-12 year period."
"I’ve studied his game a lot but also experienced what It’s like to play against him. We had those conversations. Hopefully it was beneficial for him. I know if I was a player I would have found that helpful."
