Andy Murray will link-up with Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January as he prepares to coach the Serbian. But his involvement with the 24-time Grand Slam champion has been questioned by world No.8 Andrey Rublev.
Djokovic appointed Murray as his coach at the end of last month after parting ways with former mentor Goran Ivanisevic in March.
And the 37-year-old will be aiming to surpass Margaret Court at the top of the all-time Grand Slam titles singles standings by clinching victory in Melbourne.
Rublev was asked about his reaction to Murray’s appointment during an appearance on the Tennis Weekly podcast and questioned whether the Briton can have an impact.
The Russian explained: “No reaction. In my case, if I’ll be honest, I don’t care so I had no reaction at all. It’s going to be fun. Novak is one of the best players ever played, so I don’t know if Andy can give him something.
“But for sure, the good thing is that they are good friends and sometimes the energy gives even more at this level.
“Players like Novak, when they know everything, they know this sport better than everyone, the energy in that kind of points makes huge difference.
“I think if they are good friends, it can be something new, like maybe Novak will feel more fresh and more pumped, which is not good for the rest of the players.
“But it’s going to be fun because I would like to see Andy now because he was this kind of player who like to sometimes give not good comments to his team and I would like to see if Novak will give him not nice comment because Novak can also sometimes be emotional and I would like to know what Andy feels at that moment.”
Djokovic has triumphed at Melbourne Park on 10 occasions in his career, with his first title success Down Under coming in 2008. He won the Australian Open for the 10th time in 2023 but was defeated by eventual champion Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals earlier this year.
And discussing his decision to bring Murray on board, he revealed: “I was thinking about different people and a discussion about Andy Murray appeared on the table with me and my team. We were like, ‘Okay, I’m going to give him a call’. It caught him a little off guard because he wasn’t expecting it.
“We connected really fast and he accepted it after a few days. I can’t be more excited about it. This collaboration is a surprise to me as well as everyone, but it’s exciting for tennis.”
