Up until now, they had all been across a net after hours of heated battle. Five times in six years they met as professionals at the Australian Open and Djokovic won all five, four of them in finals. The only other one was in a semi-final.
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Read MoreAfter beating Carlos Alcaraz, one of the young pretenders to Djokovic’s throne, Melbourne’s greatest ever champion headed to his corner and did not hug his long-time coach Boris Bosnjakovic or either of his physios, but made a beeline for Murray.
“It was a cool moment,” Murray told reporters in Melbourne a few days later.
“We were all pumped at the side. I was surprised when he came over because we’d celebrated after the match point. But he was obviously just pumped with the win and how he played and that he’d come through.”
When Djokovic went to hug him, Murray looked a bit like he didn’t quite know what to do, like a reserved Presbyterian father nervously accepting the embrace of a new, over-familiar neighbour.
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“I feel more and more connected with Andy every day,” Djokovic said after beating Alcaraz.
“[That hug] was a gesture of appreciation, respect for him, and the fact that he’s out there, and he doesn’t need to be. He accepted to work with me. He’s giving all his support to me, to the whole team, and trying to make it work.”
Murray says he has enjoyed the challenge of figuring out matches (Photo: Reuters)
How effectively Murray has been technically or tactically is hard to know or say. Djokovic was uncharacteristically passive tactically in the early stages of the tournament, although he is a bit of a slow starter who can take a few rounds to play his best tennis.
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“There’s certainly areas of coaching that I will need to get better at moving forwards and learn a bit more about, for example, the technical side of the game,” Murray said.
“I think the ex-players generally would be quite good with strategy and understanding the psychology having played.
Murray also admitted he was surprised by how much work was involved in the coaching side, perhaps a sign of how much the curtain is drawn in front of a player as they make their own preparations for a match.
“I’ve enjoyed the analysis. I enjoyed the matches and sitting at the side and trying to understand a bit better what’s going on, and seeing maybe how you could help a bit from the side,” Murray added.
What comes next?
Both Murray and Djokovic have been relatively tight-lipped on their future together. This was always sold as a temporary trial for the Australian Open, particularly with Murray newly retired and back home (semi-)permanently for the first time in two decades.
For Murray, family commitments notwithstanding, the world is his oyster. He never questioned that he would enjoy coaching and working with Djokovic in January has not changed his opinion. If anything, it has piqued his interest in the job and also taught him what he still needs to work on.
All the noises from the two men are that they want to keep working together. Only time will tell if they do.
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