 "Serbia's Novak Djokovic's coach Andy Murray is seen during the 2025 Australian Open. Reuters")
Competing with Novak Djokovic is tough and not many know this better than Andy Murray. Djokovic and Murray faced each other 36 times and the Serb came out on top in 25 of those. The reigning Olympic champion made things hard for Murray not only when both of them were players but also when the Englishman took up to coaching.
Murray who had retired after the 2024 Paris Olympics joined Djokovic as coach months later in November before the two split up in May this year.
In a recent interview, Murray revealed a funny incident during his time as coach which left him embarrassed.
Murray’s embarrassing first day at job
Murray, talking to The Athletic’s The Tennis Podcast, recounted a story of his starting days of coaching Djokovic when the Serb’s trainer told him if he would mind joining Djokovic for a long run. Murray could not say no and it turned out to be an embarrassing run for him.
“I didn’t run since I was about 25, on the court I did, but I never did as part of my training. And I was like, ‘It is my first day on the job, I can’t say: no, I’m not doing this’. I was like, ‘Yeah, no worries. I’ll do that.’
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“Baring in mind, I also hadn’t been staying in great shape since I finished, I’d been doing a bit but not loads. I told them that I’ve not trained much, and they said ‘It’s fine, it will be a gentle run.’
“So anyway, I went, I think it was about 50 minutes he was running for, and it was in a park, there were quite a few hills in there. Very slow pace, but after about four or five minutes my left calf cramped.
“And I was like, ‘Oh no’, but I can’t say anything, like this is embarrassing… after four or five minutes. Anyway, I finished, I completed the 50 minutes, I was in so much pain. When I finished I said to his team, ‘Guys, you need to help me out here’.
“I felt like I couldn’t stop, I didn’t want to show to him — oh my god, this is someone I’ve been competing against for such a long time and after five minutes he’s struggling training with me. So I did tough it out, but it was a pretty embarrassing moment for me."
Under Murray, Djokovic had defeated Carlos Alcaraz to reach the semi-finals at the Australian Open earlier this year but had to retire hurt in the semifinal.