'I would like to do it again': Andy Murray open to coaching return but under certain conditions

Former world number one Andy Murray has revealed that he is ready to return to coaching after a short stint with Novak Djokovic. Murray retired from professional tennis in 2024 after representing his country in the Paris Olympics.

Murray, regarded as the greatest British player in the history of tennis in the Open era, having won as many as three Grand Slam titles, soon after his retirement, became the coach of his former rival, Djokovic. That move did not last long as the two ended up separated just six months after starting their new partnership.

Following that, there were rumours about Murray’s future as a coach in tennis. Murray was recently featured in the latest episode of The Tennis Mentor podcast, where he shared his version of coaching in tennis. Murray revealed that he is open to returning to coaching but will only do so if he feels that the ‘project’ is ‘right’.

“Yeah, I would [return to coaching] if it was the right sort of project,” said Murray. “I think I probably enjoy working with a younger player and trying to influence them from a younger age. Try to help any of the British players if they want and it works out just now. I think I would coach again in the future but I’m just not sure if that will be in the immediate future. I was not planning on going back on the road when Novak called. It wasn’t something that–I was not missing tennis and desperate to get back on the road. It was a pretty unique opportunity. I think at some stage I would like to do it again.”

Murray also spoke in detail about what went wrong while working with Djokovic, where he confirmed that they did not feel comfortable sharing ‘technical feedback’ to a player who has already achieved a lot and is moving towards the twilight of his career.

“I think, first of all, you learn a lot about your weaknesses [as a coach],” said Murray. “I think a lot of ex-players…it’s very different being a player and a coach, which I expected. Something that I would say most ex-players are sort of weak at is the technical side of the game. At times, Novak was looking for quite a lot of technical feedback and it was something that I didn’t really feel comfortable with. One, in terms of how to teach somebody technique. I think coaches that work with younger players and are used to doing that are actually stronger than a lot of coaches that work on tour, because once a player is sort of 20, 22 years old, you’re not trying to overhaul their game and technique. It’s like little changes here and there. So that was something that definitely, if I was going to coach in the future, I would want to work on and learn from someone who’s very good at that.”