Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have been searching the Australian Open locker room for players who can provide them with inside information ahead of the Serbian’s matches. Djokovic, who appointed Murray as his coach last autumn, is on the hunt for a record-extending 25th men’s Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park.
The Australian Open got underway on Sunday, with Jannik Sinner going into the tournament as the favourite ahead of Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic has been made third favourite and has already booked his place in the third round of the tournament.
Ten-time Australian Open champion Djokovic was forced to come from a set down to overcome 19-year-old American Nishesh Basavareddy in his opening match on Monday.
And he backed that result up with another four-set victory on Wednesday as he dispatched 21-year-old Portuguese Jaime Faria.
Djokovic went into those matches with limited knowledge of his opponents as he had never faced either player throughout his career. And the 37-year-old had to play detective with his new coach in order to gain an advantage.
“We had to do more I think work in terms of the first preparation – analysis, preparation – for the first two guys that I faced here because there were not too many matches of them,” explained the veteran.
“Very young. We had to really also talk to people in the locker room that played them and so forth to try to get as much information as possible.
“Obviously as the tournament progresses, you know the names better – like my next opponent. It would be easier to find material on them to prepare.”
Djokovic is set to face Tomas Machac in the third round at Melbourne Park and will head into the match as the overwhelming favourite.
Machac fought back from 1-0 down and 2-1 down to get the better of Reilly Opelka in his second-round match and is aiming to progress to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time in his career.
And ahead of the third-round showdown, Djokovic added: “With Andy here, Andy has been spending quite a bit of time watching videos. He watched live my first match, but then he watched the replay of the entire match the next morning.
“He’s really dedicated. And I love that because when you watch the match from a different perspective, you watch the replay, you can maybe see things that you haven’t seen in the heat of the battle.
“That’s what we talk about – some of the elements and cues that he might see or I might see when I watch myself.”
