When Andy Murray ventured into the coaching box just months after he’d retired from tennis himself, it came as a surprise to pretty much everyone in the tennis world and beyond.
A move into coaching by the former Wimbledon champion wasn’t entirely unexpected, but quite how quickly he moved from the court to the coaching box had been anticipated by few observers.
That it was Novak Djokovic, the most successful men’s tennis player of all time, from whom the call came is what expedited Murray’s move into the coaching sphere. When the Serb invited Murray to join his team in late-2024 it was, said the Scot, an offer he could not refuse.
But the relationship endured only six months and the results of the partnership, which ultimately lasted only four tournaments, were, at best, mixed. A semi-final appearance at the 2025 Australian Open, which ended with Djokovic retiring after one set due to injury, was the most notable result the pairing produced.
When the duo split in May 2025, Murray refused to rule out returning to coaching, but he also made clear he was in no hurry to jump straight back in.
Indeed, it was over a year before the Scot decided the time was right to dip his toe back into coaching.
Murray teaming up with Englishman Jack Draper is a partnership that has long been touted. And when it was confirmed in May of this year that the pair had joined forces, few were surprised. It is, on paper at least, an almost perfect match.
They know each other well - they live only 30 minutes apart - consider each other friends and Draper is the lone British player who looks to have the ability to become one of Britain’s all-time greats. Everything Draper has ahead of him - the expectation that comes with being the best British male player, the pressure of carrying the hopes of a nation at Wimbledon and the spotlight constantly shone upon you - Murray’s been through.
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Indeed, Murray dealt with all of these burdens for over a decade. Draper has experienced glimpses of all three, but has not yet felt the full brunt of the sustained pressure of being British number one. This is, primarily, due to injury rather than lack of ability.
Draper, a promising junior player, made his initial breakthrough in 2023 when he, ironically given the pair are now working together, defeated Murray in Indian Wells. The following year, he reached the US Open semi-finals and broke into the world’s top 20. And in 2025, Draper won his first Masters 1000 title and surged as high as number four in the world rankings.
A successor to Murray had, it seemed, been found.
But Draper, who had been plagued by fitness issues as a junior, was once again struck down by injury, with an arm complaint he suffered at last September’s US Open keeping him out of action for nearly six months.
A return to the court in February was closely followed by the announcement that he would be teaming up with Murray, with the Scot coaching him for this year’s grass court season.
For Draper, this is a win-win situation. He now has, on-tap, the knowledge of Britain’s greatest-ever tennis player to tap into at will. There isn’t anyone on the planet who has knows what lies ahead for Draper, if he can continue his upwards trajectory, better than Murray.
So for Draper, forming this partnership was a no-brainer.
Then same can, categorically, not be said for Murray.
Firstly, the Scot has openly admitted that he’s enjoyed retirement much more than he’d anticipated. He has been, he’s revealed, thriving being a “normal” person, who can do the school runs, play golf whenever he wants and sleep in his own bed each night rather than spend the majority of the year travelling the world in order to chase a small yellow ball around a tennis court.
Coaching offers did, say the Scot, come in thick and fast following his split with Djokovic and prior to the announcement of his partnership with Draper. But none appealed enough for Murray to accept.
So, with Draper, the stars have aligned enough for Murray to consider this worth his while. He can have the best of both worlds - he can continue with a relatively uninterrupted family life whilst also stepping back into the coaching bubble. The very early signs are encouraging, with Draper reaching the ???? at Eastbourne, with their second tournament together being the big one; Wimbledon, which begins tomorrow.
And it’s going to be a fascinating watch because this partnership, far more than Murray and Djokovic’s partnership, will really test the Scot’s ability as a coach.
With the Serb, given he’s one of the best tennis players who have ever lived, the areas for improvement were minimal. With Draper, though, he’s still, if all goes to plan, a long, long way from fulfilling his potential. In this partnership, in contrast to that with Djokovic, Murray can make real, significant changes to Draper’s game. Aged only 24, the Englishman should have several years of development ahead of him before he reaches his peak. But if his peak is to be good enough to compete with the very best in the world, namely Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, Murray has some work to do. And real, technical work, not just a bit of advice here and there about how to deal with pressure.
Having been a good player oneself has relatively little impact upon whether or not someone becomes a good coach. Admittedly, having been a world class athlete isn’t detrimental to a coaching career - it rarely does any harm having played at the top level - but having been world class oneself definitely does not automatically give anyone the ability to spot areas for improvement in others and, more crucially, the ability communicate how to make the required adjustments and improvements.
Murray certainly shows all the signs that he’ll be a good coach. As player, he was a master tactician and few read the game better than he. But being able to pass-on that ability to a lower-level player is far from a given.
In Draper, Murray has almost the perfect subject with which to work. So the coming weeks, months and, potentially, years will give us a glimpse into whether or not Murray can really transfer his success on the court into the coaching box.
