Andy Murray found himself in a difficult predicament when he went for a light run with Novak Djokovic having been confirmed as his coach – only to cramp up as he was left embarrassed
Andy Murray admits he was left “embarrassed” when he cramped up whilst on a slow run with Novak Djokovic during his first day as the Serbian’s coach.
The pair, who were once rivals, teamed up in surprising fashion as Murray coached Djokovic for six months back at the start of 2025. The Scot was only fresh out of retirement but dipped his toe into the coaching environment and soon found himself in an awkward situation.
Murray worked with Djokovic at the Australian Open, where he reached the semi-finals after producing a shock win over Carlos Alcaraz. Injury forced to him to withdrawn after the first set of his semi-final.
On their first day of working together Murray was asked whether he was happy to accompany Djokovic on a slow run by one of the Serbian’s coaches and he felt he had to oblige – but knew he was about to put himself through a world of pain as cramp hit.
He told The Tennis Podcast: “After the tennis session, his physical trainer was like ‘Novak is going for like a long slow run in the park, would you mind joining him’. I was like ‘oh my god’. I didn’t run since I was like 25, on the court I did but I never did as part of my training. I was like ‘it is my first day on the job, I can’t say ‘no I’m not doing this’.
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“I was like ‘yeah, no worries’. Bear in mind I had not been staying in great shape since I finished, I’d been doing a bit but not loads. I told them that, and they said ‘it’s fine, it will be a gentle run’.
“It was about 50 minutes he was running for in a park, there were a few hills in there, a very slow pace. After about four or five minutes my left calf cramped. I was like ‘oh no’, but I can’t say anything because this is embarrassing. I finished and completed the 50 minutes, I was in so much pain. When I finished I said to his team ‘you need to help me out here’.
“I felt like I couldn’t stop, I didn’t want to show to him this is someone I’ve been competing against for such a long time and after five minutes he’s struggling training with me. I did tough it out, but it was a pretty embarrassing moment for me. I don’t know what happened whether I had not run for a while, whether I was dehydrated or if it was nerves. It was so slow, it was embarrassing.”
The pair’s short-lived partnership came to an end in May – the decision to part ways labelled “mutual”. Djokovic endured a difficult run of form after the Australian Open, losing in the first round of four of his next five tournaments, as well as suffering defeat in the Miami Open final.
Murray has no regrets over the link up and said: “I look back on it and I’m glad that I did it, it is an amazing experience that I’ve had. I’ve learned a bit, obviously it didn’t last that long. I put everything into it that I had, I tried my hardest to help him.”
