Novak Djokovic's coach Andy Murray makes his feelings known about Serb's outbursts

Novak Djokovic's announcement of Andy Murray as his coach for the 2025 Australian Open came as a surprise to fans worldwide. With the tournament just days away, Murray has shared that he is prepared to handle Djokovic's outbursts during matches.

Over the years, Novak Djokovic has occasionally displayed aggression on the tennis court, ranging from verbal confrontations with officials to smashing his racket. One such incident occurred at the Australian Open in 2021 when he smashed his racket during a quarterfinal match against Alexander Zverev.

On Thursday, The Times published an interview with Andy Murray in which the Brit discussed how he plans to handle Djokovic's moments of frustration on the court. Murray shared that he understands Djokovic's emotions and has no issue with him venting, as long as he is giving his best effort.

“I would think that I’d be one of the people who would hopefully understand that side of things,” Murray said. “I know it’s not easy out there. It’s stressful and at times he’s going to want to vent towards his team and his box. Providing that he’s giving his best effort and trying as hard as he can, I’m absolutely fine with him expressing himself how he wants.”

Murray added that he has personally experienced being an emotional player and has seen others go through the same. He believes handling such situations is important, as stopping players from expressing themselves isn’t always the best approach.

“You have to be very careful with emotional players, to stop them from doing that, or stop them feeling like they’re able to if they need to. Sometimes suppressing everything is also not the right way. I’ve had experiences of that as a player and watched other players," Murray noted.

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Andy Murray explains the advantages he has as the coach of Novak Djokovic - “I played against a lot of these guys”

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic at Australian Open 2025 - Source: Getty

In the same interview, Andy Murray talked about the advantage he has in coaching Novak Djokovic. He explained that having competed against many of the current players on tour, he understands their styles of play, including their strengths and weaknesses, which he believes will benefit him as Djokovic's coach.

“I would hope I have a decent knowledge of the players that are playing just now, and an understanding of what the game is like right now,” Murray said. “One of the positives about coming off the tour and going straight back on to it is I played against a lot of these guys. I know what the speed of their serve is like, what the top spin on their shots is like, and hopefully have a decent understanding of their strengths and weaknesses."

Following Andy Murray's retirement at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Novak Djokovic is now the only member of the Big Four still active on the ATP tour. During their careers, Djokovic and Murray faced off 36 times, with five of those meetings taking place at the Australian Open, where Djokovic won all five.