Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray's split as a coaching partnership can lead to new motivation for the Serbian, according to Alex Corretja
Published 21/05/2025 at 14:38 GMT+1
After six months working together, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have ended their coaching partnership ahead of the French Open. TNT Sports tennis expert Alex Corretja thinks it is a 'shame' but hopes it leads to Djokovic being able to find his motivation to push on for a 25th grand slam title. Djokovic will have Dusan Vemic in his corner at Roland-Garros.
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TNT Sports tennis expert Alex Corretja thinks it is a "shame" that Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray’s partnership has ended, but believes it gives the Serbian a chance to evaluate what he still wants to achieve in his career.
Former British No.1 Murray provided coaching support for Djokovic for six months and was part of his team at the Australian Open.
However, the pair have confirmed they will no longer be working together and Djokovic has hired his former doubles partner Dusan Vemic to take over for the upcoming French Open, where the former world No.1 will bid for a 25th grand slam title.
Speaking about no longer working with Murray, Djokovic said: "We felt like we couldn't get more out of that partnership on the court.
"My respect for Andy remains the same and it's even greater now that I've got to know him better as a person.
"He has a brilliant tennis IQ, a rare champion's mindset," he said.
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Reflecting on the Djokovic-Murray split, Corretja said: "Maybe they thought that they're not on the same path right now.
"Maybe Andy feels like he’s not helping him as much as he thought he could because Novak is not ready for that. Maybe he needs his time and he needs to just do things the way he wants and doesn't need to be told what to do.
"It's a shame because I think it was very attractive for everyone to have them together, but they tried and well, it worked as it worked, but probably different as they expected."
Djokovic has suffered a run of poor form, which has seen him crash out in the first round of three of his last four tournaments.
Most recently, he was beaten by Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in his first match at the Madrid Open and Corretja thinks that result was worrying.
"I was a bit surprised to see that Novak was a bit flat in Madrid. Usually, you see him eager to keep on going and to keep on growing.
"I'm hoping to see Novak again with this feeling in his eyes. I'm missing that," he said.
Corretja hopes Djokovic uses a period of rest in his coaching team to set his own goals for the future.
"I think Novak knows better than anyone else that the motivation doesn't come from outside. It comes from inside.
"That's the thing that he might have realised in the last five months while working with Andy.
"Thinking ‘I'm asking Andy Murray to help motivate me, to help me achieve goals, to help me achieve tournaments and win events.’ Then maybe he's like ‘but what about me? What about what I'm feeling? What do I want to improve? What do I want to achieve?’
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"It's not a matter of Andy Murray or bringing in Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras or Rafa Nadal or Roger Federer. It's about Novak Djokovic's feelings.
"That's why I think he needs to keep on going, searching inside again and see what he feels he can still achieve.
"I think it's a major season for Novak. If he doesn't win a huge event or one of the big events, I'm not so sure he will ever get back the motivation," Corretja told TNT Sports.
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