Andy Murray vows to ‘sabotage’ Novak Djokovic’s title charge in front of Alexander Zverev | Tennis | Sport

Andy Murray has joked that he will try to ‘sabotage’ Novak Djokovic‘s hopes of winning the Australian Open from within after joining his coaching team.

The 37-year-old will be in the same corner as his former rival in Melbourne, where Djokovic will be hoping to end his Grand Slam drought after failing to win any in 2024.

On Thursday, Murray was sounded out for an interview after Djokovic went up against Alexander Zverev in an exhibition match. He joked that he would try to ruin the Serb’s hopes of lifting the trophy as payback for his own failure to win the event.

“I played here a few times, could never quite get over the line unfortunately,” said Murray, before pointing at Djokovic and adding: “This man is single-handedly responsible for that. I’m now here to try and sabotage his chances of winning another one.”

Murray was then asked to explain how his partnership with Djokovic came about, with the Scot revealing that he sought permission from his wife before giving the green light.

“We exchanged a few messages and got on a call,” he said. “We had a long chat. Novak asked me to help him. I was shocked, I was obviously not expecting that when he called.

“I said: ‘Look, I’m going to have to ask my wife and see what she says’. She was very supportive of it. It’s a unique opportunity and we thought we’d give it a go and see if I could help.”

Giving his own version of events, Djokovic admitted that he ‘begged’ Murray to accept his coaching proposal.

“The way it happened is that I begged him,” he explained. “I said: ‘Andy, please be my coach’. Then we agreed and we spent a good eight or nine days preparing in December.

“He advised me that he’s going to have a family ski trip and it’s going to be the first time he’s going to get on the skis. I grew up on the mountain, I come from a family of skiers. So yeah, I was worried and I said: ‘Andy, please come in one piece to Australia’.”

Zverev was also asked what he thought of Murray agreeing to coach Djokovic and had the crowd in stitches with his answer, which was straight to the point.

“What did I think? S**t, in a negative way for me but in a positive way for Novak, I guess,” he said. “I feel like it almost doesn’t matter who he takes as a coach. He’s probably going to win five more [Grand Slam titles] while I’m chasing my first.”