Novak Djokovic's partnership with Andy Murray sends 'strong message' to rivals before Australian Open says Mats Wilander

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Former Grand Slam champion and commentator Mats Wilander has said Novak Djokovic's surprise decision to bring Andy Murray into his box for the Australian Open is an "excellent move". The former rivals will team up at the year's first major to attempt to add a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title to Djokovic's extensive trophy collection, sending a "strong message" to the Serb's younger rivals.

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Mats Wilander described Novak Djokovic's surprise coaching partnership with Andy Murray as an "excellent move" and an indication that the 24-time major winner "thinks his best tennis is still ahead of him", with more Grand Slam victories likely to be the goal.

Djokovic and Murray, who met in seven Grand Slam singles finals, announced the move earlier this week, with the news greeted with widespread surprise.

The Scot only retired from tennis earlier this year, but will now team up with his former rival in the build-up to the Australian Open in January 2025, a tournament Djokovic has won a record 10 times.

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"My first reaction was that Novak Djokovic wants to win more Grand Slam tournaments," Wilander told Eurosport.

"Obviously to all of us that are tennis fans, we would love to see him win 25 Grand Slam titles and be considered the best of all time. So with Andy Murray helping him, I say that he thinks he can still win Grand Slam tournaments in 2025, and maybe even 2026."

Wilander, a seven-time major winner himself, thought Murray's appointment to the coaching team would give Djokovic an edge over his younger rivals after a season in which the veteran has largely fallen behind.

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The 2024 season marked the first time since 2017 that the Serb had failed to win a major and add to his joint-record tally of 24, although he did complete a lifelong dream by winning Olympic gold.

"I think the message that Novak is sending is that he still thinks that he has some of his best tennis still in him, or he thinks that his best tennis is still ahead of him," Wilander said. "It's a strong [message] towards Janick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz and the best players in the world."

Sinner and Alcaraz shared the year's four majors between them, with Alcaraz defeating Djokovic in the Wimbledon showpiece and Sinner beating him in the Australian Open semi-finals en route to his first major title.

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"What Andy can do is he can tell Novak things that maybe Novak already knows, but Andy has played against all these players that Novak will face and Andy has seen them, he's practised with them. He has talked to the likes of Jannik Sinner, to Carlos Alcaraz, to [Daniil] Medvedev, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, [Alexander] Zverev.

"He will not have secrets, but he will have other opinions about these guys' games. I think there's a lot of small details that Andy Murray will know that maybe Novak doesn't think about," Wilander explained.

"I think the big picture is going to be very similar. Andy has won three Grand Slam titles, a couple of Olympic gold medals, he's won the Davis Cup. So the big picture, they both have the exact same idea about.

"How do you prepare for a Grand Slam? How important are the tournaments on the ATP tour? And then how do you play five-set matches depending on, is it the first round? Is it the quarter-finals? Is Novak tired from the match before? Do we play quick points? Do we play long points? How strong is my opponent over five hours?

"There are a lot of things that Novak Djokovic will know, but that maybe he doesn't think about in that specific match."

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Murray in his prime was billed as one of the 'Big Four', alongside Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the dominant men's players for much of this century.

The 37-year-old lost the majority of their meetings but was one of few players capable of consistently matching Djokovic's level, including in his brilliant 2016 season, when he triumphed in their Olympic singles final to defend his 2012 title, became the year-end world No. 1 and defeated the Serb to lift the ATP Finals trophy.

"I think it's an excellent move, Andy Murray is going to be an excellent coach," Wilander added. "He understands how hard you have to work. He understands how hard you can work, physically, and still be in top shape physically on the court. I think he understands how to play your best tennis when you really need to.

"We always talk about peaking and Andy knows how to peak because if you win Olympic gold two times, and you win Wimbledon two times, and you are from Great Britain, you understand how to be your best at the most crucial time."

Wilander added that Murray "loves the game too much" to enjoy a quiet retirement, although he did not expect him to turn to coaching so soon after hanging up his racquet.

The Swede also said the player-coach dynamic would be intriguing to watch, with both Murray and Djokovic infamous for shouting and fulminating at their boxes when matches were not going to plan.

"Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic both had the same kind of behaviour towards their coaching box, it looked like it was a little bit of complaining, or it could have just been explaining what they're feeling.

"So it'll be interesting to see how Andy Murray will react when Novak Djokovic looks up at his coaching box and sort of throws his arms out and says something like, 'What am I supposed to do now? How come my forehand is not working better? What can you tell me?'

"Because both of them sometimes looked like they were asking for help or advice from their coaching boxes. And I think that's going to be one of the most entertaining or one of the most interesting relationships that we're going to have between a player and a coach."

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