Andy Murray has claimed Novak Djokovic was always going to “give it a go” after the Serbian superstar retired hurt from the Australian Open.
The 10-time champion suffered a “muscle tear” in his upper leg during his win over Carlos Alcaraz in the last round and finished the match with the help of painkillers.
He did not train over the last two days but tried to reach his 38th Grand Slam final with his left thigh heavily strapped. Djokovic has a history of defying injuries and he won the 2023 title here with a 3cm tear in his hamstring.
The Olympic champion matched the world No.2 during the 81-minute first set but pulled out after losing the tiebreak.
The Scot, who joined Djokovic’s coaching team in November, said: “I think he was always going to go out there and give it a good shot. He obviously didn’t train the last couple of days. He practised right before the match and was feeling good enough to give it a go. It was an unfortunate way to finish.
“The match that he played against Alcaraz was some incredible tennis, amazing to watch from the side from that close, it was an amazing performance. He’d been getting gradually better as the tournament was progressing I think. It’s obviously a really unfortunate way to finish.”
Murray, who underwent a hip resurfacing operation in 2019, is now seeing his player battling against injury.
“Yeah, it’s hard,” said the Scot. “When you get to that stage of the tournament, you feel like you’re getting very close to something very special, and it’s unfortunate if the body’s not responding in the way that you would like.
“With Novak there’s always hope with him because of how great a player he is and has found ways out of difficult situations before. It just wasn’t to be this time.”
Murray joined the Serb’s existing eam of coach Boris Bosnjakovic, fitness coach Gebhard Gritsch and physio Miljan Amanovic.
“I feel like they’ve been a great team,” he said. “At times it feels a little bit embarrassing that because of my relationship with Novak, how much people talk about that or when there’s a good result or a good performance that it’s because I’ve helped him.
“I’m fully aware that the team that is with him has done an incredible job over many, many years to allow him to still be competing at this level at the age that he’s at.
“They’ve all been really, really helpful to me. They really welcomed me into the team. It’s been great to be a part of. I got to witness some amazing tennis, and one of the best matches that I’ve seen live against Alcaraz. And it’s a steep learning curve for me as well.
“Obviously there’s a lot of things that as a player, you know things are different when you’re coaching, there’s a lot more that you need to help with in terms of communication around the team.
“You’re not just thinking about yourself like you are when you’re a player. I’ve certainly learned a lot but there’s a lot more still for me to learn, that’s for sure.”
