Former Serbian player Janko Tipsarevic believes Novak Djokovic is in the final quarter of his career. Tipsarevic also feels Andy Murray is the right coach at this moment for the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
Djokovic has had a glorious career and he surprised one and all when he appointed Murray as his new coach in 2024. The Serbian recently made it to the semifinal of the Australian Open but had to opt out of the tournament due to a muscle tear in his leg.
Meanwhile, Tipsarevic rated Andy Murray as a fine coach and reckons the Brit will take care of Djokovic’s small details as he has all the experience.
Speaking on the Tennis podcast, Tipsarevic said, “When I talk about glorified towel boys or people that are on tour just to, you know, pick up balls, 110% Andy Murray doesn’t fall into that category. And this has nothing to do with him being the ex-world number one. There are a lot of ex-top players that are s**t coaches.”
The former World No.8 hailed Murray’s love for the sport and said he will play a key role in Djokovic’s game.
“So my description of Andy Murray as a coach has nothing to do with his prior successes as a tennis player. By his character, you can clearly see that he loves the sport. And you can, very short, that I spoke with him in Australia and that I know him over, I mean, I’m not that older than him,” he added.
“We (referring to himself and Murray) played quite a few times on tour. This is somebody who is taking his job extremely seriously. In terms of looking at the tiniest details, what in this case somebody like Novak can do to in the, I think we can, I mean, I predicted that he will do this six years ago,” Tipsarevic went on.
Tipsarevic backed his compatriot to have another good season if remains healthy and fit.
“Talking about Novak, I think we can say that this is the final quarter of his career, whether this will be two years or four years, we can say that it’s a final quarter. o I feel from every possible person on tour, this was, and I’m not saying this because we’re friends or whatever, this was the best possible hire that Novak could take. And I really feel that if he is healthy, he can have another great season,” he concluded.
Novak Djokovic will begin his Indian Wells Masters campaign on Saturday.
