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“There’s only a couple of players in the world that have played him as often as I have.”
But Murray won’t say which shots he hated his friend and rival playing in their matches.
“I think for him, having the opportunity to speak to me about that side of the game is unique, and something that no coaches in the world would have,” he says.
There was one issue in the pair’s working relationship: Murray had signed on as an ambassador for Uber Eats and had committed to not only filming an ad campaign but backing it up during the Australian Open with public appearances for the brand.
Hence, days before the tournament gets under way, he is sitting on a couch in a suite in the Ritz-Carlton hotel high above Melbourne in tennis clothes, looking uncharacteristically grimy and sweaty.
He is exactly how he looked – down to the same make-up for cuts and bruises – in December, when he secretly flew to Melbourne to film a TV advert for Uber Eats in the city’s laneways. Tennis fans are about to become exceedingly familiar with the promotion.
Murray in the Uber Eats ad he filmed in Melbourne.
The brand is using the same strategy as last year, when it signed Andre Agassi, the winner of eight singles titles in grand slams, for appearances at the Open and for a TV campaign mocking his famous mullet hairstyle.
The image of Murray as a dour Scot is one that verges on cliche, but there is no doubt that as a tennis player, he was deadly serious on court.
Yet here he is, a two-time Olympic gold medallist being chased through Melbourne laneways by some zealous Uber Eats deliverers who have been tasked with getting the familiar green bag to him to fulfil an order.
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“It’s better to go all in,” says Murray, adding that none of his friends think he is serious. “I was more than happy for them to make a bit of fun of me.”
His coaching agreement with Djokovic was for the off-season and the Australian Open, after which both parties will reassess.
“Both of us are winners, and I believe that we will find a way to make it work and be successful. But let’s wait and see how the tournament goes,” Murray says. “I currently have no plans after the Australian Open.”
He says he left other commitments open when his unexpected career took off.
The new coach noted that Djokovic is playing far fewer matches than previously, implying that mentoring the Serb could be an easier fit than the full-time tennis tour with Murray’s home life with wife Kim and their four young children in Surrey, south of London.
“I was very happy at home before I agreed to do the work with Novak.”
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