Novak Djokovic deserves \u201ccredit\u201d for hiring the \u201cunbelievable\u201d Andy Murray as his coach, according to British ATP Tour star Jay Clarke.<\/p>\n
Former world No 1 Djokovic<\/a> shocked the tennis world when he announced that Murray<\/a>, his former rival and a fellow Grand Slam champion, would work with him at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n The Serbian would ultimately reach the last four in Melbourne before retiring in his semi-final due to injury, though that has not brought an end to the Djokovic-Murray partnership.<\/p>\n After working with Fernando Verdasco at the Qatar Open, the 24-time Grand Slam champion has confirmed that Murray will be back his coach for the \u2018Sunshine Double\u2019.<\/p>\n Djokovic will be in action in Indian Wells this coming week, before heading to the Miami Open for the first time since 2019.<\/p>\n The 37-year-old\u2019s move to hire one of his greatest rivals is an unusual one, but it is one that deserves praise, according to Clarke.<\/p>\n Speaking to Sportskeeda<\/em><\/a>, the former top-200 player revealed his belief that compatriot Murray would help Djokovic find perspective amid his fitness struggles \u2013 and also gain new tactical insight.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, a lot of things, I guess. Maybe perspective, that, you know, Djokovic is older now,\u201d said Clarke.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not as fit as maybe five or six years ago, and Andy played the last three or four years of his career with a metal hip. So he wasn\u2019t as fit as well, just finding a way to win.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Andy\u2019s unbelievable tactically as well. That\u2019s probably another element that Djokovic hasn\u2019t, I would say, had in his game.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you saw how he was able to beat [Carlos] Alcaraz in four [sets at the Australian Open] after the last few times he played looking like he was the underdog almost in those matches.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the fact that he\u2019s been able to add that much already shows how good Andy is, and it also is a credit to Djokovic actually listening to someone like that.\u201d<\/p>\n How Jannik Sinner dethroned Novak Djokovic thanks to help from tennis great\u2019s youth coach<\/a><\/p>\n Did Andy Murray give Novak Djokovic the tactical plan to beat Carlos Alcaraz?<\/a><\/p>\n Murray is reportedly arriving in Indian Wells to link back up with Djokovic over the coming days, having stayed at home with his family since returning from the Australian Open.<\/p>\n Djokovic holds a joint-record five titles in Indian Wells, though he has not triumphed at the prestigious Masters 1000 event since 2016 and has only played the event once since 2019.<\/p>\n The Serbian returned for the first time in five years in 2024, though he suffered a shock defeat to lucky loser Luca Nardi in the third round.<\/p>\n Djokovic is the sixth seed in Indian Wells this year and, much like the Australian Open and Qatar Open, has been drawn in the same quarter as Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n Having received an opening-round bye, the former world No 1 could face Nick Kyrgios in his opening match, before a potential third round versus 25th seed Francisco Cerundolo.<\/p>\n Djokovic is then projected to face ninth seed Alex de Minaur before a hypothetical quarter-final against Alcaraz, the second-seed and two-time defending champion.<\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a0Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz could face Indian Wells showdown after epic draw<\/a><\/p>\n The post ATP pro claims Novak Djokovic deserves \u2018credit\u2019 amid Andy Murray partnership<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic deserves \u201ccredit\u201d for hiring the \u201cunbelievable\u201d Andy Murray as his coach, according to British ATP Tour star Jay Clarke. Former world No 1 Djokovic shocked the tennis world when he announced that Murray, his former rival and a fellow Grand Slam champion, would work with him at the Australian Open. The Serbian would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n