Andre Agassi's ex-coach gives his verdict on Novak Djokovic hiring Andy Murray as new coach in blockbuster move

Novak Djokovic spent a good amount of the 2024 season without a coach. He parted ways with his long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic after the 2024 Australian Open, which proved a rather huge disappointment for Djokovic as he failed to make the final, let alone win the trophy.

Then he briefly hired Nenad Zimonjic and worked with some other people on occasion but didn't formally hire another coach for the rest of the year. Then came the shocking news that surprised everybody Djokovic hiring Andy Murray as his new coach.

It floored everybody in the tennis community, but once the dust settled, it became a rather praised move because many thought that Murray could help Djokovic in this final stage of his career.

The former coach of Andre Agassi, Brad Gilbert, provided some insight in an interview with the ATP, acknowledging that he always believed Djokovic would do something in regards to coaching because it was apparent that he needed a spark, which proved to be the Scot.

“I kind of sensed that Novak was going to do something. You didn’t know what he was going to do, but you kind of sensed that he probably needed something, and something to motivate him. And obviously he goes way back with Andy,” Gilbert said.

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Brad Gilbert looking forward to seeing Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray partnership

Gilbert is pretty excited to see how the partnership between the two tennis legends will end up looking and he'll be down under in Australia to watch it all happen.

“The first thing I’ll want to do when I’m in Australia is just go watch Murray and Novak practice. It will be interesting, do they practise together? Is he practising with a practice partner? And [I want to see] if I notice anything different early in the first round. As a coach myself and a former player, I’m kind of fascinated seeing if there is something different right away."

While the hiring of Murray by Djokovic might have been surprising to many, there are multiple reasons why the Serbian pulled the trigger. He recently explained that Murray's familiarity with his own game and his legendary career were reasons why he hired the British player to his team.

As Gilbert noted in his comment, they go way back, having started playing against each other in the juniors as they are both the same age. Murray was generally considered one of the most tactical players in the game, and that's something he could help with, even though Djokovic himself is known as a rather big tactician.