Some players need coaches, other players need punching bags. And for a time there, unbeknownst to Djokovic, he really didn’t need either. But since the on-court coaching rule has changed, Djokovic, who used to inwardly problem solve with the occasional outburst towards his camp, has started slagging off his support staff with servings of public tongue lashings. It seems to me the rule change that allows athletes to confide with their player box has consequently hindered the best player in history. ‘Djoker’, the ultimate card dealer, stopped playing his hand to his best advantage, by doubling down on his coaches with emotional floggings, rather than keeping his cards close to his chest.
Djokovic is a kid who’s come from a war-torn environment to beat the odds against the sporting elites. His help towards his fellow players far supersedes other superstars of the time, yet is completely unacknowledged, meanwhile he gets religiously booed by crowds around the world as though he has degraded the sport of tennis to an illegal game of cockfighting. There is some legitimate injustice there and if you give him too many offramps to vent, well, he takes his eye off the ball and starts a match with people who are there to help him.
Enter Andy Murray. Murray is a man who regularly exemplified similar behaviour on court to Djokovic, but in a more Britpop and mercurial fashion. ‘The unmade bed’ as my grandma coined him, habitually delivered vicious slandering and miserable sob stories to his support staff of happy clappers and head nodding minions. So, now that Murray has accepted the role of Djokovic’s coach, it’s going to be very interesting to see how Murray handles being on the other end of his own on-court behaviour. When his ex-rival verbally abuses him live on national television, for millions to watch, I’ll tune in for that.
Everyone has their price when it comes to tennis, and people’s principles are regularly forsaken when enough money or prestige is on the line. (I know from experience). I mean, fuck, just look at the Wimbledon champ and one of my favourite childhood heroes, Goran Ivanisevic. Sure, Goran banked a few more pesos and added a couple of extra feathers to his cap throughout his time with Djokovic, but he also sacrificed his personal integrity by being publicly humiliated on a regular basis by the Serb, who showed the legend less respect than you would that of a slug or a snail. There’ll be scar tissue lingering around for Goran after the Djokovic ordeal, but luckily, he’s now coaching Rybakina which’ll feel like a vacation compared to working with Nole.
It is unfathomable for people to understand how much, back scratching, door opening, ego stroking, and molly coddling goes on behind closed doors, when it comes to working with certain elite athletes. Just trying to keep these moody sporting extremists emotionally neutral can be a full-time nannying job. To fulfil this type of role, the coach tends to need a qualification in kissing a mean ass when the athlete is off the court, and it helps having prior experience in being verbally assaulted while sitting in the players box too. There is a reason why desperate coaches, failed players and ex-journeyman’s of the tour very often find themselves suitable for these types of positions, as they have a higher tolerance for being treated like tennis toilet paper. It’s known around the sporting traps that former Grand Slam champions generally have a hard time getting down on all fours, let alone someone who was glorified as one of the ‘big four’ and was Knighted at Buckingham Palace by the Prince of Wales.
Murray doesn’t need the money or the prestige, but I guess from my personal experience, in retirement, he’ll more than likely be looking for a rush or something to ride. Basking in the glow of a fading limelight isn’t easy for anyone to endure, so the sexy storyline of ‘Djokovic/Murray – From archrivals to emotional relatives’, might just be the healthy vice to help him over his retirement hump. Sure, Murray may have a few strategic things to help Novak with on court, but since the game has added an intermediary into the equation, Djokovic has used this rule to treat his coaching corner more like an emotional dumping ground than a resource for help and guidance. And given the fact that Djokovic has bought in on the idea that he needs a ‘coach’ by electing Murray—rather than understanding what effects the rule change has had on his performance—shows me he is looking in the wrong direction. There is no need for open-mindedness when you’ve already got the fucking formula, so someone needs to remind Djoker that the only partnership he needs to be in is the one with himself. And until the 24-time Grand Slam champion comes to the undeniable realisation that no coach on planet earth can offer him a single piece of advice on the match court that will help him whatsoever, I believe the younger guys will now have his measure.
And who knows, maybe throughout the Aussie summer, Djokovic could offend the Scot so much that it motivates Murray to make another comeback…
My book SMASHED: Tennis prodigies, parents and parasites is out January 2025. You can preorder it here now.
