Former doubles legend Todd Woodbridge feels Andy Murray's appointment shows Novak Djokovic wanted to hire someone he respects and who achieved a lot in the sport.
Djokovic always attracts significant attention at every event he plays, but there will be even more media focus than usual after he hired former rival Murray as his coach until the end of the Australian Open.
It is uncertain whether Djokovic and Murray plan to continue their collaboration after the year's opening Grand Slam. Both men probably want to see how the dynamic works before committing to anything.
However, Djokovic is hopeful of their partnership based on his comments about it. The 24-time Grand Slam champion believes Murray is the perfect appointment to give him additional help.
Murray's lack of coaching experience made the move surprising, but the Briton possessed one of the best tactical brains in tennis during his illustrious career that could prove invaluable to Djokovic.
The pair competed against each other in seven Grand Slam finals. Murray won at the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon but lost the others. He was undoubtedly one of the Serbian's greatest rivals alongside Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Djokovic's main task in 2025 is to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who established themselves as the two best players in the world right now by splitting the four Grand Slams in 2024.
Alcaraz and Sinner's performances were so impressive that Thanasi Kokkinakis thinks it is not unfair to compare them to Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, widely considered the three greatest players ever, at their peaks.
The young pair are likely to get even better over the coming years, meaning Djokovic's challenge of competing against them at the age of 37 might be daunting, but the Serbian has proven doubters wrong many times.
Woodbridge delved deeper into why Djokovic hired Murray when speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Australian believes the tennis legend's previous collaborations with Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic show he wants someone he respects in his box.
"It's intriguing. Andy Murray for me is this generation's Lleyton Hewitt, and Ken Rosewell before him. And I say that because they just live, eat, breathe tennis. Andy can't keep away from it."
"Andy played everyone that Novak is going to be playing against. So, they'll be drawing up strategy, game plan, tactics, and what they've got to do is find ways for Novak to win matches really quickly, succinctly, keeping energy in the tank, and I think that's part of the reason he's been brought along."
"But, you know, there's one more [reason], which is very obvious, and that's that Novak has had people around him in his last two coaching roles that have been there, done it - that's Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic."
"It is impossible to hire someone to come in and tell him things, when he's already done more than they have. And Andy is on a parallel [with] him. Yes, he's won more majors, but Andy's won Olympics, he's won Wimbledon, he's won the US Open, he's been to a final and lost to Novak."
"He's one player that he'll respect if Andy calls him out and says, 'hey, we need to work on this.' And that's got to be why he's in the team."
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